Akpata Alleges Political Orchestration Behind UNIBEN Attack, Warns Against Exploiting Students

The Labour Party governorship candidate in Edo State, Olumide Akpata, has dissociated himself and his team from initiating the recent attack at the University of Benin Staff Club, in the state capital.

Rather, he reiterated that the attack was supported by a “highly-placed Edo State Government official who has been pulling the strings behind the scenes and orchestrating mayhem,” adding that students of the school were encouraged to make an “unrelenting campaign against me.”

He revealed this in a statement dated April 22, 2024, and titled, ‘Further statement regarding the unfortunate incident at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) Senior Staff Club,’ which was shared via his X handle on Monday.

Akpata, who was a guest at an interactive session organised by the University of Benin Staff Club, was violently interrupted during the event, which caused a crisis within the school premises.

He visited a lecturer of the institution who was injured in the attack, Dr. Presley Osemwegie, saying his life was “nearly taken by a brutal axe blow to the back of his head.”

The statement partly read, “I felt compelled to provide this further statement in respect of the deeply regrettable events that occurred at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) Senior Staff Club on Friday, 12th April 2024.

“As the attack unfolded, those present at the Staff Club will attest that upon realising that students may have been involved in the ugly incident, I immediately began to plead for leniency towards any such student. As a former student myself, I understood the grave consequences of such misguided actions on their futures. I made this same plea before the committee investigating the said incident, hoping to protect any student who may have been involved.

“However, emboldened by the apparent support of the highly-placed Edo State Government official who has been pulling the strings behind the scenes and orchestrating mayhem, some of these students have continued an unrelenting campaign against me, fabricating accounts completely lacking in truth – all seemingly in a bid to gain perceived political advantage for their benefactor.”

He called on the parents of the said students to “urgently intervene in the matter and extricate their children from the clutches of desperate politicians exploiting them,” noting that the politicians are “ready to jeopardise” the students’ lives for “immediate political gain,” at the expense of their education.

Akpata also cautioned the “desperate politicians ” who are endangering the lives of the youths to “kindly cease these reckless actions immediately,” adding that the lives of the students are more significant compared to “any fleeting political agenda.”

He tweeted that “neither I nor anyone from my team initiated or perpetrated any attacks. Rather, we were the victims of what evidence increasingly suggests was a premeditated assault, potentially motivated by political interests.”

The LP governorship aspirant called on members of the public to join forces against “those who would stop at nothing to gain or hold onto power even at the expense of the next generation.”

The former President of the Nigerian Bar Association had earlier been invited by the state police command over alleged security breaches, involving shootings at the institution.

The command’s Public Relations Officer, Chidi Nwabuzor, on Thursday in Benin City said the invitation was served on Akpata by investigators in the political desk session of the state Criminal Investigation Department on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

Meanwhile, the state chairman of the Labour Party, Kelly Ogbaloi, confirming receipt of the police invitation, described the incident as Akpata’s private affair that had nothing to do with the party.

He said, “Olumide Akpata is our candidate, but UNIBEN invited him to honour him on a personal note. I didn’t sign surety of his safety there. I don’t know why the police are equally inviting me to come along with Olumide Akpata.

“The police ought to have done their background checks, his being honoured by UNIBEN had nothing to do with our party secretariat, so I don’t know why I am being asked to come along with him to police command headquarters in Benin. However, I will honour the invitation.”