Assassination: IG probes Edo deputy gov’s claim

Assassination: IG probes Edo deputy gov’s claim

Assassination: IG probes Edo deputy gov’s claim

The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, has taken over the investigation of an alleged assassination attempt on the Edo State Deputy Governor, Dr. Pius Odubu, in the
Etsako-West Local Government Area of Auchi, Edo State.

Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Ezike, disclosed this shortly on Thursday after a maiden meeting with the representatives of 20 political parties, including the All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.

The meeting is sequel to the September 10 governorship election in the state.

Also present at the meeting were the state Director, Department of State Services, Mr. Ibrahim Haliru; the Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Mr. Walter Akubuiroh; and the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Independent National Electoral Commission, Mr. Sam Olumekun.

Suspected thugs had last Saturday reportedly attacked the entourage of the deputy governor when he was meeting with the delegates of the APC at the party’s secretariat in the area.

Seven persons, including a policeman and an operative of the DSS, were said to have been injured during the incident.

While the campaign organisation of Odubu, who is a governorship aspirant of the APC, alleged that the deputy governor was the target of the attack, the state government maintained that the claimed appeared false and hasty.

But Ezike explained that the IGP resolved to set up a high-powered team of policemen from the Force Criminal and Investigative Department, Abuja, to Edo in order to unravel the circumstances surrounding the reported attack.

 He said, “I have said that we will do the investigation. At the end of the investigation, we are also going to have the courage to tell the world the result of our investigation. I want to ask for caution; when we deal with very sensitive matters, we should not jump to conclusions before the matter is investigated.

“The correct situation is that the Inspector-General of Police, this afternoon, (Thursday) directed that a high-powered team from the Force CID should come and take over the matter and it will be in the overall interest of justice that we allow that team to do their work and then come out with the result of the investigation.”