The APC candidate in the forthcoming Anambra governorship election, Andy Uba, has called on Governor Willie Obiano, the SSS and other security agencies to stop political killings in the state.
Mr Uba made the call in a statement signed by Victor Ogene, the unit head of Senator Andy Uba Gubernatorial Campaign Organisation (SAUGCO), on Monday in Awka.
He called on the Anambra government to direct the security agencies to arrest the worsening insecurity in the state urgently.
Against the backdrop of the brutal killing of Somadina Oforma, an APC member, on Sunday, Mr Uba said the killing is “an obviously politically-motivated murder, one too many to count.”
The statement noted that the late Oforma was shot dead by unknown gunmen inside the APC office at Uruagu Ward 3, Nnewi North local government area of the state while holding a political meeting with other party faithful.
It also stated that many other members at the scene of the attack sustained injuries.
“We recall that, on July 31, 2021, at Oba, Idemili South LGA, unknown gunmen, operating in a similar fashion, accosted and killed Mr Cosmas Eze, our party’s acting assistant secretary for the local government area,” said the statement.
It added that Mr Eze, who hailed from Akwu Ukwu in the same council area, was dispossessed of the APC-branded Sienna vehicle he was driving.
“The seemingly targeted attack on the APC members was to go a notch higher, when on Saturday, September 10, 2021, the traditional ruler of Ekpunando in Anambra East LGA, Igwe Alex Edozieuno, and his driver, Chukwuemeka, were waylaid and killed,” SAUGCO explained.
It further noted that another APC member, Igwe Edozieuno, had one month before “his brutal death” joined the APC after being deposed by Mr Obiano’s administration.
“Whilst not imputing any direct motive to these attacks. We are, however, constrained to observe that our party, the APC, has borne the brunt of the majority of them, leaving us to wonder when political contest in Anambra degenerated to the point of opposition party members living in fear,” the statement pointed out. “We, therefore, call on Governor Obiano, as the chief security officer of the state, and other law enforcement agencies, including the police, the Department of State Security, DSS, and the civil defence corps, to urgently take steps to halt the growing reign of terror in our state.”
The statement urged Mr Obiano to “rein in his party men and women who take recourse to a campaign of hate, by selling the false and misleading narrative that the APC is a Fulani party.”
It added, “Yet, our party in the state is made up of true sons and daughters of Anambra. Regardless of this deliberate and misleading narrative, the APC’s resolve to salvage our dear state from the cocoon of isolationism remains unshaken – a fact attested to by the daily stream of new entrants into our fold from diverse platforms.”
Tochukwu Ikenga, the spokesman for the police command in Anambra, confirmed the incident and assured that it had launched an investigation into the matter.
(NAN)