Attack on Odoh heinous, should be investigated – Ebonyi APGA Senatorial candidate
Samson Nwafor, Abakaliki
The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Senatorial Candidate for Ebonyi South senatorial district of Ebonyi State, Sir Ifeanyi Eleje, has condemned the attack on Prof. Benard Odoh, the party’s governorship candidate for Ebonyi state and described it as heinous.
Eleje, disclosed this in a statement he issued to Journalists in Abakaliki, Sunday night.
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“I am shocked to learn of the brazen attack on the convoy of Prof. Ben Odoh, the All Progressives Congress Grand Alliance, APGA, governorship candidate for Ebonyi State on Thursday, February 2, 2023″, he said.
According to Eleje, this is one attack too many being perpetrated by anti-democratic forces in Ebonyi state under the Umahi-led administration using the instrumentality of Ebubeagu Security operatives.
He therefore, appealed to the Inspector-General of Police, and other heads of security agencies including the President and C-in-C, the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, the NSA, the DG, DSS, and the DG, NIA , the NBA, INEC and the International community to give the undemocratic practices in Ebonyi State deserved attention.
Eleje, the APGA senatorial candidate for Ebonyi South, has for sometime now been operating from outside Ebonyi state, due to threats to his life, adding that, he was secretly taken out of Ebonyi state recently, based on reliable intelligence from trusted sources that Governor Umahi had instructed his para-military outfit to abduct his supporters and inflict serious bodily injuries on them.
“I have also been informed that specific directives have been issued by the Governor’s team to the same outfit that I (his opponent in the senate race) should be attacked, incapacitated, and hospitalised until after the Senate election scheduled to hold this February 25th by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)”, he said.
He further added, “presently, my campaign activities have been disrupted as a result of incessant harassment and violent attacks by a para-military outfit established and controlled by the Umahi-led APC government and known as EBUBEAGU security operatives.
“Even as I condemn this dastardly attack on Prof. Odoh and his entourage, the Director General of my campaign organization Mr Iheukwu Okogwu and some of our other team members have been forced to relocate outside Ebonyi state as they are being hounded by Ebubeagu security operatives who are on the prowl and searching for these supporters based on the directives of Governor David Umahi.
Eleje, therefore, calls on peace-loving people of Ebonyi state, and his constituents in Ebonyi South senatorial district to rally around and vote for APGA candidates and protect their votes in the forthcoming elections and put an end to this ugly era of state-sponsored attacks and killings going on in Ebonyi state under Governor David Umahi’s watch.
The convoy of the governorship hopeful was ambushed near Rest House, Okpoto, Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State by hoodlums who killed his driver.
Two persons in the convoy also sustained gunshots injuries, five persons declared missing while his back-up Hilux van was set ablaze by the hoodlums.
Professor Odoh and many others in his campaign train, however, escaped unscathed.END//
