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Tag: APC

  • Return all stolen card readers in Bayelsa, APC Chieftain tells PDP

    A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress ( APC ), Yekini Nabena has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of being responsible for the disappearance of 63 card readers declared missing by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in five local government areas of Bayelsa state after the Presidential and national assembly elections.

    Nabena who is also the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC is therefore, asking the main opposition and the state governor, Serieke Dickson to immediately return the card readers to the commission.

    In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, Nabena alleged that PDP leaders were planning to use the card readers to rig the Saturday’s State House of Assembly election in the state in favour of their candidates.

    INEC had declared the card readers missing, listing the affected Local Government Areas where the card readers were used to include Brass, Sagbama, Southern-Ijaw, Nembe and Yenagoa.

    The Bayelsa-born APC national officer asked the leadership of INEC and the security agencies to ensure that all the stolen Card Readers are recovered before this Saturday’s election.

    Only the State House of Assembly election will be held in Bayelsa state as the governorship election is not due until 2020.

    Nabena said: “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must be mindful of the desperate plan by the Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson and the PDP to use the stolen card readers to rig the State House of Assembly elections in Bayelsa state.

    “INEC and security agencies must ensure that all 63 stolen card readers are recovered before Saturday. In the meantime, INEC should urgently embark on the reconfiguration of its card readers deployed for the Bayelsa State Assembly elections, following reports of attempts by PDP leaders in the state to hack the card readers.

    “The stolen card readers is among a list of strategies the rejected PDP government in Bayelsa state plan to deploy to rig Saturday’s elections. I had earlier alerted of Governor Dickson’s arms buildup and the illegal activities of the state security outfit, Operation Doo Akpo which is being used by the governor and other PDP chieftains to aid rigging of elections in the state.”

  • Arewa community endorses APC

    The Arewa Community in Lagos State has thrown their weight behind the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

    Its Chairman, Alhaji Muhammadu Yabo, said members of the community will vote for Sanwo-Olu on Saturday.

    At a briefing in Ogba, Yabo said the Arewa Community has been supporting the ruling party in Lagos since the days of Alliance for Democracy (AD).

    “After the merger took place in 2013, we stick with the APC. Our consistency has shown that we are with the progressives and nothing is going to change our ideology.

    “We shall deliver block vote to the APC. As we did in the presidential election, we will replicate same on Saturday to indicate that we are not social media electorate, but real voters,” Yabo said.

    He called on other residents of the state to come out on Saturday to exercise their franchise and decide their leader for the next four years.

    “The Arewa people are psychologically ready and are enthusiastic to support Sanwo-Olu. We assure APC National Leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu that noting will stop us from going out to exercise our constitutional right as enshrined in the constitution. The Arewa Community hereby re-endorsed Babajide Sanwo-Olu and all APC state assembly candidates,” he said.

  • Senator Bode Ola back in APC

    Senator Bode Ola, who represented Ekiti Central in the sixth Republic (2007-2011) on the platform of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) but who defected to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has returned to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The event, held in Ado-Ekiti, was chaired by Ekiti State Deputy Governor Adebisi Egbeyemi and attended by APC chieftains as well as all the Ado-Ekiti Local Government ward chairmen and their executives.

    Senator Ola stated that his adventure to PDP did not meet his aspirations to deliver on the needs of his electorates, hence he decided to return to APC because the governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and Otunba Egbeyemi have started to do the right thing to salvage the suffering of the masses.

    He enjoined his supporters to follow him to APC.

    At the same event, the senator’s elder brother, Segun Ola, a staunched PDP member in Ekiti State, also renounced his membership of PDP to join the APC.

    Segun Ola was a former member of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Chairman of PDP Ado Local Government as well as Chairman of PDP Chairmen in Ekiti State between 2008 and 2012.

  • Abiodun lock downs Ogun as Osinbajo, Osoba campaign for APC

    Prince Dapo Abiodun, the All Progressives Congress(APC) governorship candidate locked down Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital on Wednesday as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former Governor and leader of the party in the state, Chief Segun Osoba, and Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola joined him in a final push to ensure his victory on Saturday.

    Osinbajo, Osoba, Abiodun, Adeola and enthusiastic thousands of party members and supporters marched on Ake area of Abeokuta, in unison, chorusing repeatedly they will vote for Abiodun and other APC candidates.

    They also expressed confidence the APC governorship candidate and others going to the state House of Assembly will win landslide.

    Osinbajo, who addressed the mammoth crowd, said just as they voted for him and President Muhammadu Buhari and other APC candidates to emerge winners during the Presidential and National Assembly elections, they should also come out en masse  to cast their votes in bloc for Dapo Abiodun and APC state House of Assembly candidates.

    Read Also: Ogun forum canvasses support for Isiaka

    The Vice – President assured them the Saturday’s election will be peaceful as the Federal Government had made adequate arrangement for security agents to provide effective security to lives and properties during and after the poll in the state.

    The APC leaders also used the occasion to receive a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the state, Hon. Kayode Amusan and former Speaker of the state House of Assembly and Senatorial candidate of the African Democratic Congress(ADC) for Ogun Central, Titi Oseni – Gomez into the fold of APC.

    The duo had just defected to APC with thousands if their supporters to help push for the victory of Dapo Abiodun.

  • Polls: Court sacks Edo APC candidate

    The Federal High Court sitting in Benin City has sacked Mr. Osaro Obaze as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Oredo East Constituency in the House of Assembly election scheduled to hold this Saturday.

    Justice Damilola Ajayi in his ruling upheld Mr. Ekhosuehi Aiguobahi as the legitimate candidate of the APC.

    Ekhosuehi has filed the case asking the court to name him as the duly elected candidate of the APC for Oredo East Constituency.

    Justice Ajayi ruled that Ekhosuehi won last year primary of the party and therefore remains the rightful candidate for the March 9 election.

    Reacting to the judgment, Obaze said he was unfazed by the court judgment as he has put machinery in motion to appeal the decision.

    He said he remained the party’s candidate for the election.

    “My supporters should come out enmasse to vote for me on Saturday. I have the INEC form which was given to me as the candidate who won the primary. They should remain calm.”

    Edo State spokesman of the APC, Mr. Chris Azebamwan, said Obaze remained the party’s candidate for the constituency.

    “We hereby re-affirm Obaze as the candidate of the APC in Oredo East Constituency, and hereby reassure our teeming supporters to keep faith and remain steadfast. The leadership of our great party will do everything necessary, and explore all legal options to ensure that the mandate which we collectively gave Obaze to fly our flag in the election of Saturday, March 9 remains inviolate.”

  • APC, PDP set for legal battle

    Atiku, PDP seek access to election materials

    We’ll prove our candidate won, says APC

    Secondus, others march on INEC to reverse verdict

    A legal battle is set to begin between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the February 23 presidential election won by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The PDP and its candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar yesterday approached the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) for permission to inspect the materials used for the poll.

    They are seeking the tribunal’s order to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to grant them and their agents access to the materials.

    Also yesterday, the leadership of the PDP took its protest over the poll to INEC’s doorstep in Abuja.

    They were led by the party’s National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus.

    But the APC said its legal team would defend the ruling party’s victory at the tribunal with facts and figures.

    According to it, the PDP has taken the only democratic route to register its grievances by approaching the tribunal.

    The Director of Strategic Communication of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, (SAN, said the ruling party is prepared to prove that the election, won by its candidate President Buhari, was conducted in a free and fair atmosphere, deviod of rigging as being claimed by the opposition.

    In a statement in Abuja yesterday, Keyamo noted that resorting to court was the only democratic way for Atiku to ventilate his perceived grievances about the election, stressing that the council was not in any way prevailing on the former vice president not to seek judicial redress.

    Keyamo denied reports that the council had written to some international organisations and development partners to prevail on Atiku not to challenge the outcome of the election in court, adding that the body that wrote the letter was not known to the council and does not speak for it and the President.

    The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to some news item and posts on social media reporting that we wrote a letter to some international bodies to prevail on Alhaji Atiku Abubakar not to proceed to court to challenge the result of the 2019 Presidential Election.

    “Our investigation reveals that a letter to that effect was purportedly written by a certain ‘Buhari Campaign Organisation’. This is the second time we will be informing the public that the said ‘Buhari Campaign Organisation’ does not act at the behest of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, nor does it represent the Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation in any way.

    “As a result, whatever it has released does not represent the position of the APC Presidential Campaign Council or President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “Our official position is that we believe that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has a constitutional right to seek redress in court and we do not seek in any way to curtail that right. In fact, it is the resort to court that is the only democratic way to ventilate his perceived grievance and any attempt to restrict or discourage the exercise of such right would be an invitation to anarchy.

    “In addition, we are very anxious to meet Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in court in order to show the world in a conclusive manner the free and fair nature of the comprehensive defeat of Atiku at the polls. An election is not termed ‘rigged’ only by the mere claim of it by the loser.

    “That is what Atiku and the PDP want to ram down our throats. Unfortunately for them, international, continental and sub-regional observers (who can be seen as neutral by all standards) ALL declared the election to be free, fair and credible. No ego-massaging narrative can change that.

    “We therefore totally disassociate ourselves from the letter purportedly written by one of, perhaps, many support groups of President Buhari. They may have a right to their opinion, but it does not represent our official position.”

    In their application to the PEPT, Atiku and the PDP prayed that they be allowed to examine election materials

    Their prayers are contained in a motion ex-parte they filed before the tribunal in Abuja, in which they are seeking leave to inspect the voters register, the Smart Card Reader (SCR), ballot papers and other vital documents used in the conduct of the presidential election.

    They also want the tribunal to order INEC to allow their agents to scan and make photocopies of vital documents used for the election to enable them establish what they  alleged were irregularities in the exercise.

    In the motion filed by their lawyer, Chris Uche, (SAN), Atiku and the PDP said that the reliefs being sought against INEC were for the purpose of filing and maintaining an election petition, which they are preparing to file against the outcome of this year’s presidential election.

    The Director, Contact and Mobilisation of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Council, Col. Austin Akobundu (rtd), deposed to a 12-paragraph supporting affidavit filed with the motion.

    INEC, President Muhammadu Buhari and his APC have been listed as respondents to the motion.

    No date has been fixed for the hearing of the motion.

    The Nation learnt yesterday that the motion, being one of the preliminary steps towards initiating an election petition, may not necessarily be heard in the open, but in the chambers of the tribunal.

    A member of the Atiku/PDP legal team confirmed to our reporter that the motion was filed to enable the team gather sufficient materials to prepare their petition.

    The member said that such a motion was one of the preliminary steps in filing election petitions.

    He said: “Since the petition was intended to challenge the outcome of the election, it was necessary to inspect vital materials used for the election to enable the intending petitioner source sufficient materials to prepare his/her petition.”

    He was optimistic that his team would file the petition before the end of this week.

  • APC to Nigerians: We are humbled in victory

    The APC Presidential Campagna Council said on Tuesday that they were humbled by the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the recent Presidential election, saying Nigerians should regard the election as a no victor, no vanquished situation.

    Director General of the Council and Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi who spoke at a news conference at the council headquarters in Abuja also said that the PDP plan to write to the United Nations on the outcome of the 2019 Presidential election was just an exercise in futility as the supreme body in the country still remain the President.

    Amaechi who said President Buhari has already assured that he will run an all-inclusive government, pointing out that those asking the governme t to stop blaming the PDP for the problems of the country are not students of history.

    He said “The President has said that no only will he run an all incusive government, but he is guided by the fact that Nigerians have suffered alot and this is the time to use Nigerian money. In the accounts of Excess Crude, there was 68 billion by Obasanjo and the cost of the railway project from Lagos to Ibadan to Kano was 7.8 billion. If that money was well utilsied, we should have had one now. Lagos to Calabar is 11 billion. we could have had the rail from Lagos to Calabar.

    “But nobody is asking where is that money Obasano left behind? By the time we came, they had taken away that money and you said we should not blame the PDP. we cannot stop blaming the PDP because that i history which is a record of past events and the present. What happened in the past influence our present. They took away the money leaving behind only 2.5 billion dollars. So, how do you operate.

    “The focus of this Press conference was to thank Nigerians and say we are grateful to PDP, you should not pursue this matter in court, let us prepare for the next four years when we come be for another election and encourage INEC to conduct a free and fair election and that is what the President was emphasising.

    “Whether the PDP did well or not, we now have another four years to prove them wrong by doing better. we cannot keep crying that they didn’t do well. No excuses because the President has promised to run a government that will satisfy Nigerians. As Journalists, please try and investigate so that you can find out what is happening. I am embarrassed because in Rivers state, to be a candidate, the court disqualifies you.”

    On statements credited to the National Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus that election may not holding in 2023, the Former Rivers governor said “The PDP Chairman is not the President of Nigeria. Not even the President of Nigeria can stop elections holding in 2023 because we have the constitution.

    “To say you are going to the UN, let me say that there is no superior authority in Nigeria other than the constitution and the constitution has said that after every our years, there should be elections. So, nether the PDP or APC chairman can say there will be no election.”

    reacting to reports that the President got more votes in 2015 that what he got this year, he said “there was voter apathy because Buhari supporters have the feeling that he has already won and did not come out to vote. We had a huge turn out during the campaigns that in Borno, people were hanging on trees.

    “We should be praying for the souls of the faithfully departed in the course often campaign and during elections. Because of campaign, we lost 10 persons in Taraba, Four in Borno and fifteen in Port Harcourt. The one in Port Port Harcourt was unnecessary because the event was over and people were leaving when bad boys came to forment trouble and people panic and we had stampede.

    “We are satisfied with the votes we got. You can say that this election was a score card for the President on whether Nigerians are satisfied with what he has done. 15.5 million Nigerians said they were satisfied with his performance.

    “We are very proud of that and We are humbled in victory. Even the President is quite about it and even told Nigerians that they should go ahead to vote for whoever they want. We believe that our brothers in the other party will see reasons. But we will try and see what will happen.”

    while thanking Nigerians for putting their trust in the Buhari led administration, Amaechi said “I call this Press Conference to thank Nigerians for voting President Muhammadu Buhari and the need for Nigerians to support the President. We think Nigerian for turning out in their large number to vote for the President.

    “I dont know how true it is, but I saw in the coaisl media that New Times wrote that it was a selection between corruption and integrity. Election is over and we are no lnger discussing corruption, but wants to implement the policies that will ensure that monies that belong to Nigerians are kept for Nigerians alone.

    “Like you know, the cardinal point the President has consistently campaign on is that he will fight corruption. He also focuses on not only rehabilitating the economy, but also to make it good.

    “We had this challenge as soon as we took over in 2015 and the President has said that the economy will not grow if we don’t focus on security and ensure that lives are secured. We are saying that none of these cardinal objectives will be forgotten by the President and he has said that he will run an all-inclusive government. Many Nigerians have asked what he intends to do.

    “I want to say to Nigerians that we are grateful and we are humbled by the number of people who turned out, not just for the election, but at the point of campaign, not only in the north, but also in the south. The support in the south increased tremendously against what we had in 2015 which is a clear indication of the acceptability of the President. I told some people that it is only those that failed election that gathers for meeting. Those who wins will only share champegene.

    “In celebrating, we are conscious of the fact that in this election, we want to repeat what Gowon said in the seventies that is no victor and no vanquish. We enjoined our colleagues in PDP to join hands and ensure that Nigerians have good governance.”

    Speaking on the violence in Rivers during the last election and whther he ws remorseful, Amaechi said “if you are a Christian, yu have already found me guilty without any trial. If you are sking me whether I am sympathising with those killed, that I can answer. But if you ask me whether I am remorseful, it is like founding me guilty and asking me whther I am sorry for being found guilty.

    “I want to say that many people like my name as former governor and former Speaker and currently a Minister. All do is to vote and go home. let us take the violence in River state one after the other.

    “The first violence was in Abonema. Lieutenant was standing and protecting INEC staff when hired killers came from outside the area and open fire on military men and killed one. What do you expect and when they responded in self defence, people protested that they don’t want the military in an area where you have militant.

    “I am avoiding talking about the current governor of Rivers state because people will say that you have governed for eight years, allow this man to govern. I keep away so that he will not say Amaechi is not allowing me to govern. You should investigate when I was there.

    “I have never gone away with the type of money Wike went away with, N117 billion and nobody complained. Rivers state is one state where there should not be a candidate at all especially if the court found you guilty and disqualifies you. Two days after elections, they went back to the same place and killed three soldiers and cart away their guns. i am neither a military man nor am I from Abonema, not did I leave my house to Abonema to vote.

    “In Emoha, when it was time to collate result, thugs came shooting and everybody ran away. The fourth one was in Andoni, the home town of the PDP Chairman. Majority of the people dying are APC member. As leader of the APC, will I go and kill my own people. They did not only kill those people, they cut off their neck and went away with their corpse. Nobody is asking why people are killed just because of the ambition of one person?

    “I was governor of that state and I fought militants. i don’t know them, I don’t greet them. Wike established neigbourhood watch and who are the members of that body? He armed them and you are asking me about what is happening in Rivers state. Which law in Nigeria permits you to establish a para military organisation.”

     

  • APC: we didn’t bribe Akala to support us

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Southwest has declared that it did not bribe former governor of Oyo State Adebayo Alao-Akala to support its governorship candidate, Adebayo Adelabu in the Saturday election.

    The party in a statement by its Zonal Secretary, Mr Ayo Afolabi, said such belief is being allegedly spread by agents of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which it described as corrupt.

    The party said persuading Alao-Akala to support Adelabu was not a Herculean task being its former member.

    The statement read: “It has come to the notice of our Party, the All Progressives Congress the unfounded rumor going round in the social media and in some blogs that the APC induced Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala with a huge amount of money for his support to sway him and his numerous supporters across Oyo State to the side of APC in the gubernatorial and states house of assembly elections scheduled for March 9, 2019.

    “This type of allegation can only exist in the minds and imagination of heavily corrupt PDP and their supporters. It is out of place for APC to give financial inducement to anyone with a view to gain or get the support of any one talkless of a person of Akala’s calibre who was until some six month ago a strong member of our party. It is true that the party approached former Gov. Akala and appealed to him to lend a helping hand for the success of APC in Oyo State as did PDP in the coming elections, this is normal in democracy.

    “Akala made some demands which include among others: the completion of the teaching hospital in Ogbomoso which he wanted to be put to immediate use as soon as possible, the issue of LAUTECH which he wanted the governments of APC to address immediately and other sundry issues which are the basic ingredients for good governance. For anybody or group of people to accuse our party of offering money to former Governor Akala is share blackmail which can only exist in the imagination of the writer.

    “We therefore enjoin the public to ignore such ranting of lazy minds whose only intention is to play politics with the integrity of our party and confuse the public.”

  • PDP suffers set back in Kaduna as LG exco defects to APC

    …Pastors pass confidence vote on El-Rufai

     

    The membership of Kaduna State chapter of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has further depleted as execute members of Kudan local government area have defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) with thousands of supporters Tuesday.

    This was as Pastors under the auspices of Amalgamated Kaduna Pastors passed vote of confidence and endorsed Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai for second term in office.

    The former exco members who are from the PDP gubernatorial candidate, Hon. Isa Ashiru’s local government, were received by the Secretary to Kaduna State Government, Malam Balarabe Abbas Lawal on behalf of Governor Nasir El Rufai.

    Speaking on behalf of the decampees, a former Commissioner of Local Government Affairs, Alhaji Magaji Sadiq Hunkuyi said that they dumped PDP because it has neglected the people of Kudan area council and the internal crisis ravaging the state chapter of the party.

    Hunkuyi who also hails from Kudan local government, promised to deliver the area council to APC in the next Saturday governorship and House of Assembly elections.

    The 28-member former exco include; Malam Tsoho Mohammed, the former Chairman of Hunkuyi Ward, ex-Chairman of Sokoto Ward, Alhaji Salisu Yaro and Alhaji Tafida Karfinka, former Chairman of Kauran Walk Ward.

    Others are; Amba Aliyu, Bilkisu Uba and Dangude Yelwa, former Women Leaders of Hunkuyi, Doka and Taban wards respectively.

    Ex Youth Leader Musa Shittu of Likoro ward, his counterpart in Garu ward Ali Gadanga and Musa Magaji, former Youth Leader of Hunkuyi ward were also amongst those who crossed over to APC.

    It will be recalled that a PDP governorship aspirant, Sani Sidi and his associates across 23 local government of Kaduna state, had earlier defected to APC on Monday, citing lack of consultations and reconciliation by PDP and its gubernatorial candidate since Ashiru emerged the party’s flagbearer.

    Meanwhile, the amalgamated Kaduna Pastors, while endorsing El-Rufai also condemned the statement credited to the chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) disparaging the person of Governor Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai and his administration.

    The Pastors said, the statement credited to the CAN Chairman, Rev. Joseph Hayab was done in bad faith and should be regarded as his personal opinion and should be treated as such.

    In a statement signed by the Publicity Secretary of the group, Rev. Nath Omale said the group of Pastors under the umbrella which spread across the 23 local government areas of Kaduna State have passed a vote of confidence on the administration of Governor El-Rufai and will work for his re-election on Saturday.

    They said, “there are many achievements of the present administration in the state which have touched the lives of people positively and therefore we will work for his re-election.”

    The group noted that their endorsement came after a careful and honest assessment of the administration recognition of people from different tribes and religion currently serving in his government.

    According to them, “Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has freed the state from the shackles of godfatherism and enslavement and do not allow religion and tribalism to determine his focus in areas of development across the state.”

    “These among many other achievements in the almost four years of the Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai administration has made us to resolve to support the current administration in the state to continue till 2023,” the Pastors said.

  • APC candidate survives machete cut in Onitsha

    …as aide’s toes chopped off

     

    All Progressives Congress ( APC ) House of Assembly candidate for Onitsha 1 State Constituency, Afam Emejulu, Tuesday survived attack by suspected cultists at Egerton Street, Onitsha, Anambra state.

    The attack, coming barely four days to the governorship and House of Assembly elections, was believed to be sponsored by political opponents.

    The Nation gathered from family sources that the victim was leaving his house in the early hours of the day when he was attacked.

    “He was taken unawares by the thugs numbering about ten who laid ambush and accosted him, with one of them hitting him on the head with a hammer.

    “Others clubbed, marched on him and hit him while he was forced to lie face down,” the source alleged.

    The source further alleged that one of the boys to the victim, who rushed to rescue him, had his three toes chopped off with machete.

    Elder brother to the victim, Raphael Emejulu, who confirmed the incident to newsmen, said he was away when the news got to him and had to rush back.

    He said, “On my way back, I saw Police Patrol team and I asked them to accompany me and they obliged.

    “On arrival to the scene, my brother who was still lying face down was unconscious with blood gushing out of his nose and mouth.”

    According to him, the thugs immediately took to their heels as they shot sporadically in the air.

    He however said two of them were arrested while some ran into Onitsha Central Police barracks from where they escaped during a gun duel with the police.

    He said the case has been reported at the police while the APC candidate and the boy whose toes were cut were taken to the hospital.

    He added, “I personally incidented the matter and made statement at Central Police Station Onitsha.

    “The police medical report was signed by one Edna Solomon, an Inspector of Police attached to the station and Dr. Okonkwo O. C. Of Onitsha General hospital.”

    Although the reason of the attack on Afam was still sketchy as at press time, Raphael said it must have been politically motivated.

    He said, “His campaign team the previous day mobilised over 3000 supporters for a road show where they displayed their capacity.

    “It appeared their political opponents were uncomfortable. But power belongs to God, not man.”

    When contacted, the Divisional Police Officer for CPS, Onitsha, Ifeanyi Iburu, said the matter was yet to be reported to him.

    He said, “As the DPO of the Division, I would have heard the development if it actually happened.”