Last Tuesday’s gun attack at the residence of elder statesman and former governor of Edo State, John Odigie Oyegun, in Benin City, confirms a dangerous pattern of political suppression and intimidation that must be called out and condemned, lest the Fourth Republic is squandered.

According to reports, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), held a meeting to welcome former governorship candidate of Labour Party in Edo State, Olumide Akpata, into their fold, at the party’s Secretariat in Benin City. Half way into the event, the team retreated to the home of Chief Oyegun, in the Benin GRA, following intelligence that the Secretariat was no longer safe.

The assailants arrived the Secretariat and inflicted mayhem on the venue; fired shots, destroyed canopies and valuables. Not done, they trailed the politicians to the home of Oyegun, where they rained ferocious bullets on the gate and on parked vehicles.

The aftermath of the attack, as captured by cameras betrayed a devilish mission that was audacious and fearless. The affront couldn’t have been designed to merely instill fear, but to terrorise the occupants of the home, and send a message to their followers. The manner and brutality of the assault betrayed no restraint. What exactly is at stake to instigate such a fury and dare-devilry? Could it be democracy?

In the home of Oyegun, at the time of the shooting, were; the chief himself; Peter Obi, Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in 2023, now a leading member of ADC; Oserheimen Osunbor, a Professor of Law and former governor of Edo State; Olumide Akpata, former LP governorship candidate in Edo State and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA); Yunusa Tanko, Coordinator of the Obedient Movement; Kennedy Odion, Chairman, Edo State ADC, and other high-profile politicians.

The home of the 86-year-old Oyegun ought to be a sanctuary, where leadership lessons are traded, not guns. Apart from being a former governor of Edo State, elected in 1992, when elections counted, Oyegun is an economist and retired public servant of note. He was the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

His abode ought to be a safe place to meet and canvas ideas, irrespective of affiliations. But the reckless greed in today’s polity does not respect boundaries and ancient landmarks. It’s all about acquiring territories.

Reactions to the attack have been divided. The ADC says it is an orchestrated assassination attempt by the ruling party on its leadership, particularly Peter Obi, who since 2023, has become the number one threat to APC.

In July 2025, the Governor of Edo State, Monday Okpebholo, warned Peter Obi not to visit Edo State without prior security clearance from him, the Chief Security Officer of the state. Okpebholo said this: “He cannot come to Edo State without telling me because his security will not be guaranteed. Whatever happens to him in Edo State, he will take it.”

Those are words on marble. They re-echoed grimly in last week’s gun attacks. The temptation on the part of the ADC, was to link the incident with the earlier threat, which was not moderated by the APC leadership at the time. Neither did the police step in to interrogate what was clearly an affront on citizens’ constitutional right to free movement and association.

Last week, it took the APC 48 hours to respond to the assassination allegation. The party’s national Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, in a familiar blistering tone, suggested that the ADC might be fated to die stillborn.

In the opening paragraph of what was supposed to be a denial, and perhaps, gratitude to providence that nobody was killed in Oyegun’s home, the statement rather said: “The African Democratic Congress (ADC) is, undoubtedly, its own nemesis. It needs no external help to achieve its political demise. The party is doing a good job crippling itself even before it has time to stand on its feet.” Very harsh and unkind for a near-death scenario.

A Pattern
Whereas, the APC thinks the ADC does not need external help to facilitate its demise, observers have noticed a pattern of external help to hasten that project. Commenting on this Backpage in September 2025, under the title: “Creeping intoleranceand political violence”, one felt an obligation to call out the brazen manner state authority was misapplied to paralyse democracy and free choice.

On August 30, 2025, hoodlums terrorised the venue of ADC’s inaugural transition committee meeting in Kaduna. The meeting was to harmonise coalition members from the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and the Labour Party (LP), under the ADC banner.

Instead of experiencing a convivial atmosphere, thugs, armed with cutlasses, clubs and stones invaded the Kaduna venue, disrupted proceedings and inflicted injury and damages on persons and property of members.

On that occasion, Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of the state and arrowhead of the ADC coalition, lamented that the attack had the imprimatur of the authorities. He said: “The police was complicit. The Assistant Commissioner of Police that was there, watched while these thugs were attacking people with machetes, destroying people’s vehicles. It is a matter that I will report to the highest levels of the police and the Police Service Commission. If the authorities don’t end the introduction of thuggery into Kaduna, God help us. Nobody has a monopoly of violence.”

The police responded to the attacks by outlawing political meetings, claiming the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had not opened up the space for political campaigns. But what the ADC planned was not a campaign, but a meeting of coalition members, for the first time.

In Kebbi State, the convoy of Abubakar Malami, former Attorney-General and Justice minister under the Buhari-led government, was attacked on September 1, 2025, by suspected political thugs. Malami had emerged the leader of the ADC coalition in the state.

According to reports, he was returning from a condolence visit to the family of late Tukur Kola, Chief Imam of Dr Bello Haliru Jumu’ah Mosque, in the state capital, when assailants quartered in the APC secretariat, Kebbi, launched the attack. They injured many and left 10 vehicles destroyed. No arrests were made.

In October 2025, suspected thugs set ablaze the Secretariat of ADC in Ekiti, on a Tuesday morning. Party members had set up canopies to inaugurate ward, council and state executives, but for hours, hoodlums unleashed terror on them, destroyed valuables and left unhindered. According to reports, they stormed the venue commando-like, shot sporadically into the air and forced ADC members and journalists to scamper for safety. No arrests were made.

In Lagos, there have been reports of attacks on ADC members as they receive former Labour Party members, same pattern as the violence that was meted on LP members during the 2023 governorship election in the state. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the LP governorship candidate and now ADC stalwart, has lamented the restrictions to deny the opposition oxygen, choreographed by the ruling party with support of law enforcement agents. No arrests.

The police
As the political season unfolds, with time table for elections slated for January and February 2027, the spate of political violence is bound to increase in temerity and rapidity. The only agency that has capacity and authority to slow down violence is the police. But to do that effectively, the police have to be professional and neutral.

In the Kaduna attacks on ADC members, the police responded very poorly and suspiciously. First, it sealed the venue of the meeting, then ordered that hotels and other venues should not entertain political gatherings until further notice. There were no arrests, instead, the Kaduna Police Command suggested it was el-Rufai’s thugs that attacked the event he organised. The police decreed that no political meetings can take place until further notice.

But the High Court in Kaduna, in October 2025, affirmed that the police cannot arbitrarily stop, ban, or disrupt lawful meetings, rallies and gatherings of political parties. The Commissioner of Police had gone to court, and sought powers to suspend political rallies and meetings by opposition parties. But the Court ruled that the request was unconstitutional, an abuse of power, and an infringement on fundamental rights. The Court awarded N15 million in damages against the police for disrupting meetings held by the ADC and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), in August and September 2025.

If the politicians want this democracy to survive, let that Kaduna High Court ruling be the lesson to take home. For Edo, let the state not graduate from petty thuggery into the bloom of political terrorism. Edo is rated among the five best in physical sports and in cranial capacity. Students of political history will testify that Edo State has managed its political relationship with the South-West very well, since the era of Western Region politics.

It had been a partnership of mutual respect, not the feudal-era arrangement being commanded under President Bola Tinubu. Liberal democracy is about debate and superior argument. In Edo State today, every senatorial district is a hub of academic institutions-universities and polytechnics. Let that reflect in the politics. Let there be pluralism, not the ongoing display of timid and unintelligent raw power. Edo no de carry last!

Let’s be reminded that the justification for democracy is the existence of opposition. If it is about using guns and state power to intimidate and stifle dissent, the military did it better. Then, what was the point asking them to go?

At the weekend, Chief Oyegun was not sure there would be arrests of the gunmen who terrorised his democratic space and threatened lives.

He said: “I’m not sure if an arrest has been made. I am also not sure if an arrest will be made considering the nature of the event. Imagine, people bearing arms in broad daylight and were seen and no one has been arrested up till now. It was the security agencies that gave us a hint of the attack that saved us. We had to quickly bring the programme to an end.”

Let President Tinubu rescue this democracy. It’s bigger than him and APC!