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The Nsukka Professional Association (NPA), Enugu State, has appealed to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Usman Alkali Baba, and other heads of security agencies to fish out the killers of the Labour Party’s (LP) Senatorial candidate, Mr. Oyibo Chukwu, who was murdered a day before the presidential and National Assembly elections.
The association also raised the alarm over plans by some political gladiators to cause violence during the forthcoming gubernatorial and state House of Assembly, especially in Enugu East Senatorial district.
President of the group, Mr. Charles Nwodo, who briefed journalists in Lagos, said the association and Enugu people in general were appalled that since the gruesome murder of Chukwu, who was politically assassinated, no arrest has been made and nobody has been interrogated.
Nwobodo, appealed to the IGP to deploy a special team of detectives to Enugu with a mandate to apprehend all those directly connected with the heinous crime, no matter the status of the person involved.
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‘We donated N1 million to the family of our slain brother. We want the murder to be thoroughly investigated, and justice served on the guilty, in accordance with the law. We don’t want him to die in vain. We also want the police to intervene in election violence and malpractices.
“We have credible intelligence at our disposal that desperate politicians in Enugu are planning to compromise key officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the police, the Nigerian Army, and other security agencies in the state. We also had it on record that some politicians are planning to disenfranchise our people from voting for the candidates of their choice.
We called on the INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu, to rescue his staff from compromising the forthcoming gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections, so as to reinforce the credibility of the electoral process.’
Nwodo further said, as a group, they also had reported that some politicians were planning to import armed thugs and cultists into the Enugu North Senatorial zone, adorn them in police and army uniforms and deploy them to terrorise voters in the area.
He said: ‘We have credible reports of plans by desperate politicians in Enugu State to compromise key officials INEC, the Nigeria Police Force, Army and other security agencies in Enugu State with a view to frustrate the conduct of free, fair and credible elections. We are informed that some INEC officials in the state have been specifically accused of coordinating plots to disenfranchise Enugu voters. We call on the Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, to immediately rescue the credibility of the staff from all official activities related to the forthcoming election, so as to reinforce the credibility of the electoral process and also protect the career of the staff in the event that they are innocent of the allegation.
‘There is also a plan by politicians to disrupt the election in targeted polling units and wards. We are raising the alarm to call the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari, Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, DSS, and the international community.
‘We want to remind the GOC 82 division, Enugu State, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja, the Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Ammani, Director of State Security Service, Mr. Ayo Adesina, and the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Chukwuemeka Chukwu, to remember their oaths of office, and the standard operating procedures approved for the 2023 election by the respective agencies.
