Ebonyi APGA petitions Buhari, condemns attacks on supporters

The All Progressives Grand Alliance in Ebonyi State has petitioned the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd); the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba; including about the alleged attacks and intimidation of its members in the state.

This was when the party condemned Ebubeagu’s renewed attacks on its supporters in the state’s Afikpo North Local Government Area.

APGA Campaign Council Director of Media and Publicity, Charles Otu, claimed in a statement Sunday that there were new plots to destabilize the campaign of Ebonyi South senate candidate Ifeanyi Eleje by suspected Ebubeagu officials.

The statement read in part: “APGA and indeed the Odohzhia Ebonyi campaign council wish to warn members of the public about these latest plans and deposit as follows:

That our dear party APGA’s campaign train has been the most orderly and peaceful in the state. It’s gotten to the point that even when virtually all of our candidates’ billboards and posters have been destroyed and defaced, we’ve since chosen to engage and speak directly with voters, leaving the government’s agents with inanimate objects like our have to destroy billboards;

“That contrary to perhaps the expectations of the ruling APC and their destructive occupying army, our campaign messages have already penetrated deep into every nook and cranny of Afikpo North and even the entire Ebonyi South.

“This, we are aware that the ruling APC, instead of engaging voters directly, has misled the Ebonyi public with its style of exporting its scarce supporters from one local government area to another just to form a “hired mob” to impress the governor and then mislead notably nonresidents of the state and those who may not know they are not on the scene and have since been rejected by the majority of Ebonyi- voters.

“That we call on the police authorities in Ebonyi, especially the Commissioner of Police, Aliyu Garba, to immediately and unconditionally release said Amobi Ujah, investigate the notes and petitions already filed by our supporters in the area and beyond , arrest and also arrest and prosecute all illegally armed and government-sponsored Ebubeagu operatives who try to cause tension and crisis in the area.”

It added: “Police should invite the chairman of the council for proper questioning about his roles and those of his boys before the once peaceful LGA turns into a theater of war, as do the neighboring Afikpo South, Onicha and Ohaozara LGAs where Governor Umahi’s armed paramilitary Ebubeagu militia has successfully caused it to be engulfed by serious crises.

“That nothing, we repeat, NOTHING should happen to Mr. Okogwu, our senate candidate, any members of the families or any of our stakeholders and supporters in Afikpo North LGA.

“The threats against them and the alarms expressed in this press statement should be thoroughly investigated by the various security authorities, as we cannot afford to lose a soul in the 2023 elections to the desperate and dastardly activities of an illegal and banned group like Ebubeagu. ”