Kogi State governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SP) Murtala Yakubu Ajaka has declared that the attack carried out by suspected thugs and policemen was targeted at him.
He revealed this on Tuesday in Abuja that he is alive as he would have been assassinated by the gunmen who invaded the residence of the Director General of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) campaign organisation, Sheikh Ibrahim Jibrin.
The state police spokesperson, SP William Aya, in a statement described the incident as a raid carried out following an intelligence report that the residence was housing political thugs with dangerous weapons.
But Ajaka said “the claim of looking for thugs is a ruse to assassinate me. There were no thugs in that house. All the people they killed were policemen while those abducted were policemen or campaign staff who went to Anyigba as an advance party.
“In the course of the attack, which lasted for almost two hours between 5am and 7am this (Tuesday) morning, three policemen officially attached to protect me from the Special Protection Unit of the Nigerian Police were killed by the rogue force hurriedly put together by the Commissioner of Police, Berthrand Unuoha, the Kogi Director of DSS, Mr Tosin Ajayi and the Officer Commanding the NNS, Lugard Ajulu for that deliberate purpose,” he alleged.
Benthrand, however, said “The police have a mandate to raid houses suspected to be harbouring thugs”, stressing that “When the chips are down, we will know what a civilian is doing with an AK-47 rifle”.
Ajaka, therefore, urged the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to redeploy the Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Berthrand Unuoha, the way he did in Imo State, to ensure sanity in the Saturday’s election.
He also urged President Bola Tinubu to order the prosecution of security officials complicit in the ongoing violence in the state.
The incident took place around 5:30am on Tuesday as the gunmen used their truck to remove the gate of Jibrin’s residence and immediately opened fire, in the process killing people caught in the cross fire that ensued between the security details of the SDP chieftain and the invading forces.
It was learnt that a police detail of Jibrin, Inspector Samson Atabo was killed in the process.
Similarly, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital as suspected thugs invaded the residence of a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Chief Diekivie Ikiogha with dynamites.
The attack was near the residence of former President Goodluck Jonathan at the Kpansia axis of Yenagoa metropolis on Tuesday.
Residents of the area said they heard a loud explosion from the compound around in the early hours of Tuesday.
The state police spokesperson, CSP Asinim Butswat, said the police state command has dispatched the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit (EOD) to the scene.
Also, two unknown persons were wounded from gunshot after they were attacked by yet-to-be-identified thugs within the Opolo axis of the state capital.
It would be recalled that at last weekend, thugs attacked PDP supporters in Nembe Local Government where one person was killed while others were injured. This has reported led to the buildup of tension in the state in the count down to the election day.
