One shot dead, others injured in Edo PDP campaign rally

By Editor

Jan 19, 2023

The flagged off of Edo central senatorial chapter of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) campaign on Wednesday  turned violent as one person was reportedly shot dead while others that sustained various degrees of injuries are hospitalized.

Dailymonitorngr reports that the incident happened at ward 7 at Ewu community in Esan Central local government area.

The campaign Director for the local government, Barrister  Anselm Ojezua, in a statement made available to newsmen in Benin City said the incident had been reported to the police for a thorough investigation.

Ojezua said as a result of the violent incident life was lost while others sustained various degrees of injuries.

He added that due to the unfortunate incident, the party has decided to suspend all political campaign rallies until the police come up with their investigation and findings.

According to him, expectedly, the  outcome of the flag off which covered ward 1 to 5 of the Senatorial District, was indeed successful, as party members as well as supporters of the Party came out enmasse to show  solidarity to all the Party's candidates. 

"With the same high spirit and  in view of the success recorded at the flag off, the party decided to take its campaigns to ward 7 and 8 in Ewu, on  Wednesday 18th January, 2023. 

"Today's campaign rally,however, had a sad  occurrence as it was gathered that while  the campaign rally was ongoing in ward 7, the sound of gun shots was heard some distance away from where the rally was taking place. 

"Disturbed by this sound of gun shots, the leaders of the PDP leading the rally, decided to lead their members and supporters to a safe location. 

"The PDP as a peace  loving political party which understands the place of the rule of law in a constitutional democracy, has  reported this sad and unfortunate occurrence to the police for a thorough investigation.

"We later heard of possible loss of lives in this incident, which has led us as a party to put on hold all political campaign rallies until the police come up with their investigation and findings", he said.

He added that the  campaign council, however, regretted the loss of lives resulting from the  incident and pray for the repose of the dead.

He also urged  all supporters of the party that all campaign rallies will resume shortly, as they awaits the police investigation to ascertain the root cause of the incident.

Ojezua, said the campaign council has, however, admonished and encourage all its members to go about their normal activities peacefully.