Opposition parties raise alarm over alleged assassination attempt on its spokesman

Opposition political parties under the aegis of United Political Parties (CUPP) have cried out over an alleged attempt to assassinate its first national spokesman, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere.

In a statement Tuesday night by CUPP 2nd national spokesman, Comrade Mark Adebayo, he said Ugochinyere “only escaped attempt on his life by the special grace of God.”

According to him, unknown gunmen, suspected to be security officers, had trailed Ugochinyere on Friday night at about 8pm while he was driving home from a strategy meeting of the opposition and fired shots at him.

He said, “Our 1st National Spokesperson noticed a vehicle trailing him immediately he left Wuse II branch of H-Medix where he went to buy some personal needs.

“To confirm his suspicion, he quickly went down the popular Zone 4 Bridge and the vehicle continued following. He also joined the express to Area 1 having descended the Mabushi Bridge and the vehicle continued to follow.”

He said the vehicle that trailed Ugochinyere was dark coloured hilux pickup van with no less than four persons inside.

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He added, “When he (Ugochinyere) had joined the airport road he drove till he got to a section of the road where the street lights were full and rolled down his tinted side screen and pretended to slow down to see if the vehicle will pass. However to his greatest shock, as the pickup approached, it tried to swerve and double-cross him. He averted it but noticed that they were bearing arms similar to the unique ones carried by officers of the Department of State Services (DSS).”

According to Adebayo, during the chase, the gunmen “fired off two quick shots but to the grace of God, Mr. Ikenga was not hit.”

He also alleged that on January 28, 2019 during a rally at the NBA Headquarters to protest against the unlawful removal of Justice Walter Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, that some persons disguised as thugs who had come as anti-Onnoghen/pro-government protesters had threatened Ugochinyere that “very soon nobody would hear his voice again because acid would be poured into that his mouth with which he criticizes the government.”

He said that for inexplicable reasons that the thugs, who were armed were not arrested by the police officers deployed that day at the NBA Secretariat despite the fact they clearly saw them with the guns.

“This attack is a vindication on the position of the opposition that this government is violent, prone to blood-letting and has no limit or red line. Human life is not sacred to them, security of lives and property is not a duty for them, privacy of a citizens home is not out of limits for them.

“Why will security agents trail a citizen in the dead of the night and chase him like that with high chances of his being involved in an accident or clear signs of aggression and shooting at him when they had the opportunity of easily arresting him if that had been the mission as he noticed the car drive off and follow him when he left the Supermarket.

“We hereby warn that the lives of all opposition leaders is still the responsibility of the government to protect and that we shall not fail to hold the government responsible if for any reason the life of any opposition leader is lost in mysterious circumstances,” Adebayo said.

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