Edo APC gov aspirant escapes assassination attempt

Edo APC gov aspirant escapes assassination attempt

One of the governorship aspirants in the just-concluded All Progressives Congress governorship primary in Edo State, Mr. Casely Omon-Irabor, on Tuesday escaped an assassination attempt in Delta State.

It was gathered that gunmen broke into his home in Enerhen, Uvwie Local Government Area of the state in  the early hours of Tuesday and destroyed many valuables.

Omon-Irabor, is a rights activist and a Warri-based legal practitioner, who recently ventured into politics.

He was a one-time senatorial candidate for the Edo Central Senatorial District under the platform of the Citizens Popular Party.

Sources close to the APC aspirant told PUNCHNG that a modern iron protector and walls mounted around his house were destroyed by the suspected assassins to enable them to gain access to his home.

The Warri-based lawyer confirmed the incident to our correspondent when contacted on the telephone on Tuesday.

While narrating his ordeal, he said, “I was dragged to a point where the gunmen shot at me. They thought that the bullet hit me but fortunately it did not but I pretended that I was dead. Before they left, they molested my family members.”

The politician was however grateful to God that he survived the ordeal and no life was lost to the incident.

Efforts to reach the spokesperson for the Delta State Police command, SP Celestina Kalu, proved abortive as her telephone number was not connecting.

Meanwhile, ahead of the governorship election in Edo State, a former governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Maj. Gen. Charles Airhiavbere (retd.), has berated the leadership of the party over its comment on the administration of Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

A chieftain of the PDP, Chief Tom Ikimi, had during the inauguration of the PDP’s governorship campaign in Benin on Monday, attributed Oshiomhole’s re-election in 2012 to the benevolence of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, whom he said, allowed the governor to coast to victory.

But Airhiavbere, who contested against Oshiomhole at the polls, said that the leaders of the PDP “sold Oshiomhole” to the residents due to their “inordinate ambition.”

“They sold Oshiomhole to the Edo people four years ago because of their inordinate ambition. Today, they are not talking about Edo people, they are talking about how Oshiomhole betrayed them. It was because Oshiomhole did not agree with them to give Osagie Ize-Iyamu the ticket,” he said.

He added, “I was the candidate of the PDP in the 2012 governorship elections. For Pastor Ize-Iyamu and Tom Ikimi to say former President Jonathan is an anti-party leader is unfair. They were unfair to Jonathan as a President of this country and a leader of the PDP at that time.”