Mr. Victor Oshioke, an aide to the suspended All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who hails from Apana, has debunked the allegation that the attack on Governor Godswin Obaseki’s convoy by thugs was sponsored by Oshiomhole.
Oshioke, while reacting to the report, alleged that the “gunmen” were sponsored by the deputy governor of Edo State, Comrade Philip Shaibu, and that the vehicle they used was in the convoy of the governor.
Oshioke told Vanguard on phone, last night: “The attackers were actually in the governor’s convoy; they drove ahead of the governor’s convoy from Ayoguiri and when they got to the village they started by destroying the billboards I mounted, the one mounted by Chief Lucky James, that of Nick Sedi and that of Jerome Adegboyega.
“Then they started shooting around, people ran away into the bushes and the governor ended up addressing members of his entourage because the villagers ran away.
“They destroyed a vehicle belonging to Wilson Idaewor. People have just started coming back to the community and we are going to make a formal complaint to the police.
“We ensured that our people did not retaliate so that it will not be reported that Obaseki was attacked in Oshiomhole’s ward, which we know was their intention.”
However, Obaseki’s Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osagie, claimed the said incident occurred in Ward 10, Apana, where Oshiomhole hails from and that the thugs were allegedly sponsored by Oshiomole.
He also noted that they were reportedly dislodged by a combined team of security personnel and vigilante groups, who repelled their gunshots.
Osagie said that the state’s Deputy Governor, Comrade Philip Shaibu, gave them a hot chase.
According to Osagie, the pandemonium caused by the gunshots and the hurling of stones stalled the governor’s convoy temporarily before the Ward-to-Ward campaign train berthed at Adams Oshiomhole’s corridor at Apana Market Square in Ward 10.
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it would deploy no fewer than 20,000 ad-hoc staff for the conduct of the September 19 governorship poll in Edo State.
.Vanguard