News Editor
By Sunday Ezekiel in Benin
The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are engaging in counter accusation over shooting that occurred at the venue of the Governorship Election Tribunal in Benin City on Wednesday morning.
Accusing the PDP of being behind the incident, the APC through its Chairman, Emperor Jarret Tenebe, said that “the Tribunal is a sacred space where justice is meant to be administered impartially. Any act of violence within its environment undermines the very foundation of our legal system and threatens the safety of all involved.
“Regardless of political affiliation, resorting to violence to resolve disputes is never justifiable. We must all condemn such actions in the strongest possible terms. Violence has no place in a civilized society, and those responsible for this heinous act must be brought to justice swiftly and without exception.”
Refuting the APC allegations, the PDP, via the Chairman of its Caretaker Committee, Dr. Tony Aziegbemi, said that the APC “who are clearly scared of justice, have continued their devious ploy to frustrate our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), from reclaiming the mandate duly given to us by the good people of Edo State in the last governorship election at the Tribunal and have now resorted to deploying thugs disguised in PDP-branded attire to disrupt the legal process, while pointing accusing fingers at our party.
“We strongly dissociate ourselves from the shooting incident that occurred today at the venue of the Governorship Election Tribunal in Benin City, the Edo State capital, and want to unequivocally state that this shameful incident is yet another in the series of clandestine efforts by the APC to frustrate the legal process and tarnish the image of our party.”
Going further, the PDP stressed that it’s aware that its only pathway to justice “is through the legal process, so it would be utterly senseless for anyone to suggest that the party would deploy thugs to disrupt this very process and jeopardize its own chances.
“We urge the APC to exhibit more intelligence when concocting these lies and peddling their usual falsehoods to advance their devious plans. No one needs to be told that it is the APC that is orchestrating this chaos, resorting to disguising their thugs in PDP-branded attire in a desperate and poorly executed attempt to mislead the public.”
PDP expressed surprise that “the police did not arrest the individual who was shooting sporadically in public without restraint, we are calling on them and other law enforcement agencies to ensure that the gun-wielding thug, whose face was clearly visible in the video trending on social media, is arrested and prosecuted in accordance with the law.”
