The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State and the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Wednesday, traded blame over the shooting that took place a few metres from the sitting of the Edo State Governorship Election Tribunal, which began its sitting at the state High Court premises.
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Passersby around the venue of the tribunal scampered to safety as gunshots boomed from the sophisticated weapons carried by people suspected to be thugs, causing pandemonium.
A viral video of the shooting making the rounds showed an armed man in a T-shirt along Ezoti Street, with a pump action as he fired several shots into the air, scaring passersby.
This was just as he was later seen being taken away in a white Hilux van.
Reacting to the development, the Acting Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Emperor Jarret Tenebe, blamed the opposition PDP for being behind the shooting, describing it as unacceptable.
“Today’s shooting incident within the venue of the Governorship Election Tribunal in Benin City involving members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a deeply disturbing and unacceptable act of violence.
“The Tribunal is a sacred space where justice is meant to be administered impartially. Any act of violence within its walls undermines the very foundation of our legal system and threatens the safety of all involved.
“Regardless of political affiliation, resorting to violence to resolve disputes is never justifiable. We must all condemn such actions in the strongest possible terms.
“Violence has no place in a civilized society, and those responsible for this heinous act must be brought to justice swiftly and without exception,” Tenebe said.
But the Peoples Democratic Party, in a statement, accused the APC of deploying masked thugs to shoot and disrupt Tribunal proceedings.
The party, in a statement by the State Chairman, Tony Aziegbemi, said the APC is scared of justice and has continued devious plots to frustrate the PDP from reclaiming the mandate truly given to the party by Edo people.
“We strongly dissociate ourselves from the shooting incident that occurred today at the venue of the Governorship Election Tribunal in Benin City, the Edo State capital, and want to unequivocally state that this shameful incident is yet another in the series of clandestine efforts by the APC to frustrate the legal process and tarnish the image of our party.
“Why would the PDP attempt to disrupt the only opportunity it has to reclaim the mandate given to it by the people of Edo State during the last governorship election?
“The PDP is aware that its only pathway to justice is through the legal process, so it would be utterly senseless for anyone to suggest that the party would deploy thugs to disrupt this very process and jeopardize its own chances.”
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