The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Enugu State, Senator Ayogu Eze, on Sunday declared that no election observer was killed in his house contrary to reports.
He made the declaration through his media aide, Mr. Clinton Umeh, describing the reported death of an observer in his home as false.
Umeh, who made the clarification in a statement, issued in Enugu, described as false, stories making the rounds that an observer was shot in the candidate’s home in Umuozzi, Enugu Ezike in Igboeze North Local Government during the governorship and state assembly elections on Saturday.
According to him, the true story is that Eze’s residence was stormed by two vehicles with Enugu State Government registration numbers, claiming to be carrying election observers.
He explained that one of the vehicles drove inside the senator’s compound while the other stayed outside the gate.
According to him, the vehicles had their numbers masked, rousing the curiosity of their supporters who unmasked them only to reveal the Enugu State number plates.
Umeh said the supporters saw this as unwarranted intrusion, especially as they saw the face cap of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP governorship candidate for the election in one of the vehicles and sought to quiz the occupants of the vehicles on their mission.
Umeh said that the atmosphere turned rowdy suddenly, forcing one of the police officers in the premises to shoot into the air to disperse the crowd.
He added that the policeman’s hand obviously slipped, according to eyewitnesses, and he shot one of the APC supporters who passed on while being conveyed to the hospital.
The media aide said the affected police officer had been handed over to law enforcement agents who were currently handling the matter in accordance with their service rules.
He said that the so called observers whose identities were questionable were released to the Igbo Eze North Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Samuel Ngwu following the intervention of Eze immediately his attention was drawn to the incident.
He said: “No observer was killed in our principal’s house or anywhere near it. What is circulating in the social media is pure fake news, obviously fabricated by those who sent the team to the house of the governorship candidate.
“We see this fake story as part of the coordinated assault on the democratic rights of our principal, who has remained calm in the face of severe provocation.
“We hope that with this clarification the authors of this willfully spurn tale by the moonlight will see the need to leave Senator Eze alone.”
The state police command spokesman, SP Ebere Amaraizu, confirmed the incident adding that the command had commenced full scale investigation into the matter.
NAN
