Enugu: How Police killed my supporter, labelled him unknown observer – Sen. Eze

OBIORA IFOH, Abuja

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC in the controversial governorship election held on March 9, Senator Ayogu Eze, has confirmed that the man allegedly killed by the police during last saturday’s election in the state was one of his supporters and not an election observer as erroneously believed.

The Senator however said the police officer who fired the tragic shot has also been arrested and handed over to law enforcement agents who are currently handling the matter in accordance with their service rules.

It would be recalled that the police in Enugu confirmed that an unknown man believed to be a domestic observer was shot meters away from the home of Senator Eze on Saturday.

But in a statement issued by Sen. Ayogu Eze Governorship Campaign Organisation and signed by the APC governorship candidate’s media aide, Clinton Umeh said it was drawn to false stories making the rounds that an observer was shot in its principal’s premises while he was in the village for the governorship and state assembly elections.

The true story according to the statement is that “Sen. Eze’s residence was stormed by two vehicles with Enugu State Government registration numbers, claiming to be carrying election observers. While one of them drove inside the senator’s compound, the other stayed outside the gate.

“The vehicles had their numbers masked, rousing the curiosity of our supporters who unmasked them only to reveal the Enugu State number plates.

“The crowd numbering nearly 10,000 people saw this as unwarranted intrusion, especially as they saw the face cap of the PDP governorship candidate for the election in one of the vehicles and sought to quiz the occupants of the vehicles on their mission.

“The atmosphere expectedly turned rowdy suddenly, forcing one of the police officers in the premises to shoot into the air to disperse the crowd. His hand obviously slipped, according to eyewitnesses, and he shot one of the All Progressives Congress, APC, supporters, who passed on while being conveyed to the hospital.

“The affected police officer has also been handed over to law enforcement agents who are currently handling the matter in accordance with their service rules.

“The so called observers whose identities were questionable were released to the Igbo Eze North Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Samuel Ngwu Attah following the intervention of Sen. Eze immediately his attention was drawn to the incident.

“No observer was killed in our principal’s house or anywhere near it. What is circulating in the social media is pure fake news, obviously fabricated by those who sent the team to the house of the governorship candidate.

“We see this fake story as part of the coordinated assault on the democratic rights of our principal, who has remained calm in the face of severe provocation.

“We hope that with this clarification the authors of this willfully spurn tale by the moonlight will see the need to leave Sen. Eze alone.”

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