Avellon Williams
NIGERIA – Oyibo Chukwu, the Labour Party’s Senatorial candidate for Enugu East Senatorial District, has been assassinated.
On Wednesday night, Chukwu’s convoy was attacked in AmechiAwkunanaw of Enugu South, the local government of the state after he returned from a campaign trip to Agbani.
Gunmen opened fire on the branded Sienna car he was riding in with five of his supporters, according to reports. The car caught fire after being raided with bullets.
The Governorship candidate of the party, Honorable Chijioke Edeoga, confirmed the death of Senatorial candidate Chukwu and his supporters by saying the car that carried them was set ablaze after they were killed.
He said, “It is true that our senatorial candidate for Enugu East senatorial district for Saturday’s election has been killed. They shot him and five others and set them ablaze.”
“Our party members are being targeted for assassination by political parties that felt threatened by the rise of the Labour Party in the state and are afraid they may lose Saturday’s election.”
Hon. Chijioke Edeoga
It has also been reported that on Wednesday night, near the Eke Otu market in Amechi, one of the drivers of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Enugu North/South, Hon Offor Chukwuegbo, was set ablaze by yet-to-be identified individuals who attacked and set his campaign vehicle (mini bus) ablaze.
According to a reliable source from the campaign team, the driver took the bus out after they had returned from campaigns.
In a tribute to Oyibo Chukwu, Nkanu Native Association (NNA) chairman Honorable Fraben Agwu extolled him, saying he fought gallantly.
He said, “The best Senator Enugu East Senatorial Zone never had has taken a heroic bow on 22/2/23 while fighting gallantly in the war front for the emancipation of his Nkanu people and the Odenigbos in the struggle to establish the eternal truth that “all men are born equal.”
“No amount of spilling of the blood of the Odenigbos on their ancestral land shall stop the Odenigbos from enthronment of political justice in Nkanuland. We refuse to be cowed or intimidated. His murder has only re-echoed my admonition that life is a warfare.”
