Armed thugs have reportedly attacked some chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ebonyi State, inflicting injuries on them.
The thugs reportedly attacked their victims at Okposi in Ohaozara Local Government Area and Abakaliki area both in Ebonyi.
Briefing journalists in Abakaliki on Tuesday, two of the victims, Mrs Clementina Igwe and Ngozichi Okoro, said that the attacks were an act of intimidation, and described the action as barbaric.
Igwe, Women Campaign Coordinator for Ezza North for Sen. Soni Ogbuoji, the APC governorship candidate, said that the suspected thugs swooped on her and gave her thorough beating for refusing them to remove campaign posters of Ogbuoji pasted on her building.
She said: “On Thursday, Dec. 13, a group of persons suspected to be political thugs armed with dangerous weapons were moving around at the G-hostel area of Abakaliki, removing campaign posters of Ogbuoji pasted on walls and buildings around the area.
“They were tearing and removing the posters and mini bill boards placed in strategic places in the area.
“When they came to my private building at No. 17 G-hostel Road, Mile 50 to tear the posters, I came out and resisted them.
“They thugs numbering about 13 descended on me, got me thoroughly beaten and inflicted serious wounds on me which you can see all over my body.
“If not the intervention of good spirited individuals who came and rescued me, I would have been left dead”.
She called on the police and other security agencies to apprehend the culprits and prosecute them.
Similarly, Okoro an APC House of Assembly candidate for Ohaozara East State Constituency, said that she was attacked alongside other party supporters, while they were installing solar panel, a constituency project attracted by Senator Ogbuoji at Okoposi community.
“On Saturday, Dec. 15, while installing solar panels at Okoposi community in Ohaozara Local Government Area, being constituency project attracted by Ogbuoji, the incumbent senator representing the area, we were stopped from installing the panels.
“Seven solar panels worth over N1.7million were vandalised in the process, while the driver conveying the items was inflicted with heavy injuries and many of us received varying degrees of injuries.
“Two of the suspects have been arrested, we are demanding that all the persons involved in the attack are fished out for prosecution,” Okoro said.
When contacted for comments, Mrs Loveth Odah, the Ebonyi Police Command Public Relations Officer (PPRO) said that the command was yet to be briefed.
“We are yet to be briefed on the incident. We shall make contact with the Divisional Police Headquarters at Kpiri-kpiri and Ohaozara for confirmation of the alleged attacks.
“We will carry out full investigation into the matter and anyone connected with the unlawful attacks will be arrested and prosecuted.
“We want to use this medium to assure all political parties and indeed the general public of our commitment to ensure that adequate security is provided before, during and after the 2019 elections”, Odah said.
Meanwhile, the Ogbuoji Campaign Directorate has described the two attacks as unprovoked war declared against the party and its candidates in the 2019 general elections in Ebonyi.
The campaign directorate’ s head of media, Mr Ikenna Emewu, urged the police and other law enforcement agencies to fish out the perpetrators of the violence.
