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Omo-Agege accuses police of shielding suspected assassins

By Chido Okafor (Warri) and Owen Akenzua (Asaba)
18 July 2017   |   4:01 am
Senator Ovie Omo-Agege yesterday accused the Delta State Police Commissioner, Zanna Ibrahim of shielding the gunmen who attacked him at the weekend.The gunmen suspected to be assassins had shot at the senator and also attacked his entourage during his empowerment programme at Effurun.

Senator Ovie Omo-Agege

•Police, Delta State govt deny complicity
•Urhobo Progress Union condemns attack

Senator Ovie Omo-Agege yesterday accused the Delta State Police Commissioner, Zanna Ibrahim of shielding the gunmen who attacked him at the weekend.The gunmen suspected to be assassins had shot at the senator and also attacked his entourage during his empowerment programme at Effurun.

A statement by Omo-Agege’s media aide, Mr. Aruviere Martin Egharhevwa, criticised the police commissioner for denying the murder attempt.The media aide quoted the CP as saying: “I don’t know about any assassination attempt on the senator. Didn’t he have policemen with him? I know he reported a complaint at the Ekpan police station that thugs attacked him during an empowerment programme.

“But I don’t know whether it boils down to an assassination attempt. As a senator who was on an empowerment programme, did he go empty-handed?”The aide expressed worry that the CP denied the attack, even though he ‘dispatched’ policemen to stop the attackers.

“Why did the policemen deployed by the CP fail to arrest the attackers who openly threatened to disarm them at Ekpan? Why has the CP declined to arrest the suspected criminals, even as the names of the suspected attackers were duly reported to the police?

“We submit that the CP’s distasteful comments and conduct are sorely provocative and dangerous for national security. We therefore call on him to recuse himself from investigating the matter.”

The governor’s aide further stated that the attack was the handiwork of some political miscreants and not that of the state or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as alleged.

Also, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s Executive Assistant on Communications, Dr. Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe, denied government’s involvement in the attack.He said Okowa is a peace-loving leader and a Christian with strong and uncompromised moral values, in accordance with biblical principles.

According to Egharhevwa: “It is strongly believed by political observers that an aggrieved faction of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, mobilised to disrupt Omo Agege’s stipends’ events in Effurun market. This is, however, subject to confirmation, as the state police command might carry out further investigation if there is credible evidence.”

Meanwhile, the President General of Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) Worldwide, Olorogun Moses Taiga, has condemned the attack.In a statement, Taiga urged politicians in Urhobo land and Delta State in general, to eschew violence as they go about their political activities.

“Nobody should shed the blood of any Urhobo son or daughter for any political reason,” he said.He urged all Urhobo sons and daughters to come up with programmes to develop the area and sell them to the electorate rather than resorting to violence. He urged the security agencies to thoroughly investigate the incident.

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