Edo: Hoodlums Take Over Oshiomhole’s House In Benin Ostensibly To Unleash Mayhem On Him

By Elizabeth Chukwuma

 The political crisis which had engulfed Edo state House of Assembly  over the last two years have taken a new dimension with the recent take- over of  Adams Oshiomhole , a former governor of the state and now  National Chairman , of the All Progressive Congress, APC, private residence in Benin, the state Capital , ostensibly to  embarrass him.

The invasion of  the former  Edo state  governor, and Labour activist’s House  , who pride  himself as the godfather  of the APC politicians in the state , may have sent a signal to other  Chieftains of the party that  it is no longer going to be business as usual. The argument in APC  circles now , is that if the former  governor of the state , who wields enormous powers at both at the state and  the national level’s House could be invaded,  in spite of the tight  security around him, it means , no highly placed government official in the state  is save any longer .

Many believe  that  if the  former  governor, had braved the odds to rush out to confront the hoodlums, believed to have been sponsored by his political enemies, who had entered his premises when they were chanting  ‘’songs to mock him’’, the treatment, he could have received , he may not have liked it.

Eyewitness, account, disclosed that the hoodlums who were armed  with dangerous  weapons  were ready to create scene in his house should security Operatives attempt to frustrate their plan  not to attack  him.

The Value News learnt  the aggrieved hoodlums, had waited for him for hours in his Compound but could not gain entrance into the building before information filtered out  to Danmallam Mohammed, the state Commissioner of police, CP, who quickly dispatched fierce looking officers armed  to the teeth to disperse them. The  anti-riot policemen may have had their way in forcing the hoodlums out of the  Okroutun, GRA,  residence, of the APC, National Chairman,  but they were determined to lay ambush for him on the road. They were said to have  closed  the road in the area for traffic for hours  before it was finally opened.

The  APC, National Chairman, may have known that his life is in danger that he had requested for security to be beefed up around his house to  avoid a repeat of such embarrassment in the future. As at last Sunday, four  police patrol vehicles  had been dispatched there by  Danmallam, the state Commisioner of Police, on the orders of  Mohammed Adamu, the Inspector General f Police,  IGP, to add up to  the police Vans already stationed in front of the  Oshiomhole’s  GRA, residence.

He was  said to have addressed some loyal Youths, who followed him to his house when the situation became calm  that there was no cause for alarm. Information making the rounds shows that he was in the state  to attend a Ceremony  and spend the weekend before running into the embarrassment.

The APC National Chairman who could not hide his support for  President Muhammadu Buhari , urged the Youths who  were said to have  formed a circle around him to  ensure there was peace in the state by bot resorting to a reprisal attack on the alleged masterminds of the  attacks. 

His major worry was that ‘anything that happens anywhere  in this country, they attribute it to the Katsina born Nigerian President. ‘’We  must  be seen  to be behaving well , if other people  are beating the drums of war’’, he charged the Youths.

Godwin Obaseki: Governor Of Edo State, Accused Of Masterminding The Attack On Oshiomhole

Recall that  in the 2016 governorship election in the state,  the APC, National Chairman, who was instrumental , to the emergence of Godwin Obaseki, as the governor of the state, used to call the Youths the Infantry Division of the APC,  who played a vital role to his emergence as the governor of the state, serving  for an interrupted eight years despite efforts by Late Tony Anenih to truncate him. He knew what the boys , who  served as the party agents in 2016, governorship election in the state could do  by taking the laws into their hands by calling for calm. ‘’We have to take it easy so that there would not be breach of peace in the state’’, he advised.  

Simon Ebegulem the Chief Press  Secretary  to Oshiomhole, may have spoken his mind  when he said  the hoodlums who  invade the APC National Chairman’s house were sent  Obaseki, the state governor, and  one of his one –time political ally  because of his desperate moves to secure  a second  term, which was said to haven opposed by  him.

Efforts by The Magazine to reach out to the governor proved abortive even as Taiwo Akerele, his Chief of Staff, claimed he was attacked on Sunday, by an APC Chieftain, popular,  Kabaka, in Protea Hotel in Benin, during a meeting with some foreign investors.  The APC Chieftain was said to be an ally of the loyalists  of Oshiomhole.

In apparent  reaction  to invasion of Oshiomhole ‘s house in his GRA residence I Benin,  Ovie Omo-Agege, a Senator of Federal Republic of Nigeria, and incidentally the Deputy Senate President,has condemned the action of the hoodlums, describing  the development as ‘’callous, cowardly, inhumane and totally unacceptable ‘’.

 He noted  that political practice  in the country should  not be allowed  to degenerate  to a situation  where’’ violence  becomes  the language  of activism  by  both politicians and their supporters  no matter how disgruntled  such persons may be’’.

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