Thugs on Wednesday night attacked the Edo State secretariat of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Benin. Witnesses said the thugs arrived in a white bus and poured what was suspected to be fuel around the building. Reports said the intervention by sympathisers helped to prevent the building from being razed.

Some billboards around the building were pulled down while fire gutted a part of the building. Edo ADC Chairman Kennedy Odion said the party moved into the secretariat last month.

Odion said it was no coincidence that the attack occurred weeks after the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) allagedly threatened not to allow any opposition in the state. He called on security agencies to fish out the attacker and prosecute them to avoid future occurrence.

Odion said: “I got a distress call yesterday that our secretariat was on fire. “I got across to security agencies to help put out the fire. Eyewitnesses said they saw a bus that brought some masked boys.

“The witnesses said the boys poured fuel around the building to set it on fire. “They destroyed the party billboards and other things. We have reported the incident for security agencies to bring the perpetrators to book.”