Labour Party (LP) members and supporters of the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, have been injured following an attack on the party’s rally venue by gunmen in Okposi, Ohaozara Local Government area of Ebonyi State.
NewsWireNGR reports that the supporters of Peter Obi identifies as “Obidients”.
According to the party, the gunmen were members of Ebonyi Command of the Southeast Security Outfit code-named “Ebubeagu”.
A report by Vanguard quoted the Labour Party House of Assembly candidate for Ohaozara East Constituency, David Ogbonna, to have claimed the gunmen pushed a woman, and she hit her head on a hard concrete surface.
He said the woman was rushed to hospital where she has remained unconscious as doctors battle to save her life.
Ogbonna also alleged that the attackers shot at the party faithful and inflicted varying degrees of gunshot injuries on at least three of them.
According to him, “We scheduled a meeting with our supporters in Okposi community and Mr Nkemkanma Kama was supposed to be there. We were to receive defectors from PDP, APC and other parties.
“On the road that led from the local government, we saw many cars parked on the road, including a Mercedes Benz belonging to Consider, the Local Government Chairman.
“I told people that this is the Chairman and asked if they have any programme where we are going they said they don’t know.
“As we were going, they suddenly passed us with speed. When we got to Okposi, we saw them barricading the entire road. We made a detour towards Onitsha local government, because we didn’t want our security to have any altercations with them.
“We stopped at a place and made calls and then decided to go back and asked them why they are barricading the road leading to where we are having our programme.
“When we got there, we didn’t see them. We proceeded to the venue. When we got there, we saw people on the floor. They shot directly at people. Then a woman who mistakenly ran into their midst was pursued to a three stores building where she pushed and she fell on the floor not off the building. She just hit her head on the floor. She did not fall from the building.
“She was rushed to the hospital and the report we are getting is that she is unconscious. We saw people with bullet wound injuries. We have taken them to hospital”, he said.
In a statement he issued on Sunday, the aspiring lawmaker further narrated how the gunmen invaded the venue.
He wrote: “Yesterday, as party faithfuls gathered at our (Labour Party) office at Mgbom-Okposi, waiting for the arrival of the Labour Party Candidate for Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo federal constituency – Nkemkanma Kama , the men of Ebubeagu Security Network led by Ohaozara Local Government Chairman invaded the venue.
“As they entered the venue, our campaign office, our supporters on the road waiting for our arrival erroneously thought we were the ones possibly because of the exotic car of the Local Government Chairman. So, they rushed to warmly welcome ‘us’ only to meet young men numbering over 40 wielding all kinds of automatic guns who came down from the fully loaded Toyota Hiace Bus and Sienna buses and opened fire on Innocent people.”
Meanwhile, the State’s Commander of Ebubeagu, Nnanna Friday, denied the allegations.
Speaking, he said; “We did not attack anybody. They should stop mentioning Ebubeagu everytime they have problems among themselves.
“They may have been attacked by their fellow members who they may have had a disagreement with and they now turn around and blame it on Ebubeagu.
“They did same thing recently in Izzi, and we later discovered that their members attacked them”, he said.
