THE Labour Party (LP) senatorial candidate for Enugu East Senatorial District, Oyibo Chukwu, has been shot dead three days before the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
According to several reports, Chukwu and other party members were killed late Wednesday night in Amaechi Awkunanaw, Enugu South Local Government Area, Enugu State.
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The reports say unidentified individuals approached them while they were travelling in a Sienna car, shot at them and set the vehicle on fire.
The governorship candidate of the party in the state, Chijioke Edeoga, confirmed the incident to Punch Newspaper.
Edeoga added that political groups who feel threatened by the emergence of the Labour Party in the state and are concerned they would lose Saturday’s election are targeting the party’s candidates for assassination.
In a related development, also on Wednesday in Enugu, gunmen attacked the campaign convoy of Oforchukwu Egbo, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Enugu North/South Federal Constituency.
It was gathered that the incident occurred at Eke-Otu in Amechi Awkunanaw, Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State.
The driver of one of the buses in the convoy was killed by the hoodlums.
When contacted by The ICIR, the Enugu State Police Command spokesperson, Daniel Ndukwe, promised to provide more details later.
Supporters of LP and other parties have been victims of attacks in the past few months.
The LP women leader in Kaduna, Victoria Chimtex, was killed by yet-to-be-identified gunmen in November 2022.
The incident occurred in the deceased’s residence in Kaura Local Government Area in Southern Kaduna.
The hoodlums also shot Chimtex’s husband in the leg.
In November 2022, some hoodlums in various vehicles allegedly launched an attack on the crowd during a campaign rally by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ibadan.
Some members of the party were reportedly hurt during the attack.
In December 2022, the LP House of Assembly candidate for Onuimo Local Government Area in Imo State, Christopher Eleghu, was assassinated by yet-to-be-identified gunmen. His house and cars were set ablaze by the attackers.
In another incident, the Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Abiye Sekibo, reportedly escaped assassination on Thursday, February 9.
Data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) showed that 29 violent attacks occurred in Nigeria in 2023 alone.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance