A lawyer and member of the National Working Committee of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Kenneth Okonkwo, has labelled the violent attack against the party leaders in Benin City, Edo State, as an assassination attempt and “Genocide against political opponents”.
Speaking on Arise TV on Tuesday, Okonkwo alleged that those responsible for the attack had a link to government authorities.
Okonkwo further alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was working to weaken opposition parties in a bid to impose a one-party system in the country.
He said, “This was an assassination attempt by people I can describe as either the governmental people or their agents. This is genocide against political opponents.
“This government has started trying to do genocide against political parties. You must have heard when they said that it’s like we are tilting towards a one-party state, and this was orchestrated by the APC to ensure that there is no other party.
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“Having failed to ‘genocide’ all the political parties, because ADC just emerged, their only choice now is to wipe out the opposition leaders. It’s a premeditated attack channelled towards intimidating the opponents.”
On whether the incident claimed any lives, the ADC chieftain said there were injuries but no confirmed fatalities as of the time of his interview.
“We cannot say that they killed anybody, but other people were injured. We are yet to know about the casualty figures because it happened today,” he said.
The ADC chieftain revealed that three former governors were present at the venue when the attack occurred, including John Odigie-Oyegun, Oserheimen Osunbor and Peter Obi.
“One thing is very, very telling; three former governors were in that venue… and the federal government, with the state government, could not provide enough security for their safety,” he said.
He also alleged that the absence of security personnel made the attack possible.
“They withdrew the security of John Oyegun and all the other people. If the security were there, they wouldn’t be attacked. So there was no security, basically. And that’s why I said it’s genocide,” Okonkwo added.
According to Okonkwo, the incident has been formally reported to the authorities, noting that Odigie-Oyegun informed him that the Commissioner of Police visited him after the incident.
“They reported the incident. Oyegun told me that the Commissioner of Police was magnanimous enough to visit him, but what we do not know is what happens after then,” he said.
