The Edo State Government has strongly condemned the violence that erupted during the visit of Olumide Akpata, the Labour Party’s gubernatorial candidate, to the University of Benin on Friday.
The State Government in a statement signed by Chris Nehikhare, the Commissioner for Orientation and Communication, acknowledged the conflicting claims made by Mr. Akpata and the Student Union Government (SUG) of the University in statements issued by both parties on April 13.
He disclosed that an active investigation is currently underway to ascertain the truth of the matter.
The statement added that violence or the sort of irresponsible behaviour witnessed during the LP candidate’s visit to UNIBEN will not be tolerated.
Akpata’s visit to the University was intended for an interactive session with the Senior Staff Club. However, the event was disrupted by violence, prompting the Ex-NBA chairman to allege in a viral video that a senior member of the Edo State Government was responsible for the attack by unknown persons.
In response to these allegations, the Edo chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) denied any involvement in the alleged attack.
In a statement signed by Patrick Ojebuobor, the State Assistant Publicity Secretary of the Party, the PDP emphasized its commitment to the rule of law and disavowed any connection to the incident.
“The PDP would have ignored the statement outright as it was neither signed by the Labour Party nor their governorship candidate but decided to issue this clarification for the benefit of the unsuspecting members of the public.
“The PDP has no hand in the alleged purported attack on the Labour Party governorship candidate, Olumide Akpata (Esq) at the University of Benin as contained in the said unsigned statement.
“The PDP is a law-abiding political party and has respect for and observes the rule of law in its entirety as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended and other extant laws, rules and regulations in our statute books.”
