Olumide Akpata, a former Edo State governorship candidate of the Labour Party, has recounted how he and other leaders of the African Democratic Congress, including 2027 presidential aspirant Peter Obi, narrowly escaped de@th in Benin City earlier this week.
The motorcade of former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, was riddled with bullets after suspected assassins attacked a gathering of the ADC in Edo State.
Obi and others came under attack during the formal declaration of Akpata into the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in Benin City.
Narrating what happened, Akpata said, “With regard to what happened on that particular day, which is the movement of some of us to ADC, was fixed for 11 o’clock.
“But it happened about one o’clock. And we got intel from usually reliable sources that that venue, the Secretariat of the ADC would come under attack.
“And so we’re told to speed up our event. So we tried to move as quickly as we could. And then we left the premises and proceeded to Chief John Oyegun’s house in the GRA when we got to Chief Oyegun’s house, we were told that as soon as we left, the ADC Secretariat was attacked.
“Indeed, I had cousins who had come with me. I had friends who had come with me. Some of them were injured. A particular cousin was actually…,she had a bottle smashed on her head. So it wasn’t a case of, as we say, them say, them say, I have first hand information regarding…, and very, very credible from what happened that day.
“We were outside Oyegun’s front door taking pictures and discussing when we saw, it was like a double drive by, we saw people drive, some guys driving past the house and started shooting. So it’s a bit of a distance from the front door to the gates.
“There’s a driveway so but the shooting was so intense that the SSS, DSS, men who were there with us had to push us back into the sitting room, and we’re there for another 20 minutes until this assailants had fled the scene, and then we went outside to inspect the damage and all the cars that were there.
“If there were people sitting in those cars, there’s no doubt in my mind that persons would have d!ed and you could see the gates, you could see the bullet piercings and all of that. So that’s what happened on that day.
“With regard to your point about the Edo state government stating that this was an intra party thing, I don’t buy that. I don’t think many people will buy that the issues that were taking place at the ADC just the day before, involved persons who I know, personally, I know them very well, will not result to getting armed men to come to the heart of GRA in the afternoon to start firing guns.
“What I think is that it is just a message being sent to the electorate, that’s very dangerous message that you will participate in this process at the risk of your life, so you are better off staying at home. That’s an attack on democracy, because what you find is that people become reluctant to participate.”
