*Orders intensified investigation, manhunt of suspects
The Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, Ahmed Ammani, has said that the killers of the Labour Party (LP) senatorial candidate for Enugu East Senatorial District, Elder Oyibo Chukwu are suspected members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN).
The CP said he had “ordered the intensification of the discreet investigations and manhunt of the subversive criminal elements, suspected to be IPOB/ESN renegades, who in the night hours of 22/02/2023 at different locations, ambushed and simultaneously attacked and murdered People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) members, and also attempted to attack the convoy of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Governorship Candidate”.
A statement issued by the spokesman of the state police command, Daniel Ndukwe (DSP), said the Commissioner stated this after visiting the scenes of the incidents at Topland by Ebony Paint Road and Eke-Otu both in Amechi-Awkunanaw, Enugu.
The Commissioner, while strongly condemning the barbaric acts, commiserated with the parties and family members of the deceased, vowing to ensure that the perpetrators were fished out and made to face the full wrath of the law.
He, therefore, reaffirmed the undiluted commitment of the Police and other security agencies to emplace adequate security for a peaceful and credible elections in the state, while urging the citizens not to succumb to the cowardly antics of the hoodlums, which is aimed at creating fear and to disrupt the electoral process.
Meanwhile, the police preliminary investigations into the incidents showed that the armed hoodlums, operating in a tricycle, attacked a PDP campaign Mini Bus at Topland by Ebony Paint Road, Amechi-Awkunanaw Enugu and used petrol bomb to set it ablaze, burning to death its driver, simply identified as one KC Great (male).
In a similar fashion, another set of the same armed assailants, operating in a Hilux vehicle, attacked and set ablaze the campaign vehicle of the Labour Party, at Eke-Otu Amechi-Awkunanaw Enugu, burning to death the Party’s Senatorial Candidate for Enugu East Senatorial District, Barr. Oyibo Chukwu (male) and his Personal Assistant (male) with him in the vehicle.
However, the miscreants were repelled by Security Operatives while attempting to also attack the convoy of the Governorship Candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) at Eke, Agbani, Nkanu West LGA.The statement sid that normalcy has generally been restored in the mentioned locations.
