Former Deputy Governor Shaibu and Okpebholo Survive Assassination Attempt; Security Aide Killed by Gunmen

Political brigandage and bloodbath returned to the streets of Benin City, Edo State capital on Thursday as some armed men alleged to be members of the Edo State Security Network, ESSN opened fire on the convoy of Senator Monday Okpebholo, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Philip Shaibu, the reinstated deputy governor of the state, who flew into the Benin Airport in a chartered aircraft after his April 8, 2024 impeachment by the state House of Assembly was nullified by Justice James Kolawole Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday. A policeman attached to the governorship candidate of the APC who accompanied Shaibu from Abuja, was felled by the bullets of the assailants, while several persons were injured in the exchange of gunshots as some armed supporters of the APC responded to the sudden attack.
TELL gathered that mayhem broke out around 2.00pm as soon as the returning party emerged from the Airport gate into the ever-busy expressway when some gunmen, suspected to be vigilantes, who had strategically positioned their vehicle across the road overlooking the airport, released a volley of bullets on the motorcade causing stampede as pedestrians, commuters, and traders in the axis scampered to safety.
The magazine gathered that the intervention of policemen and other security agents prevented what could have been a very bloody encounter as they fired sporadically into the air to disperse the combatants.
Meanwhile, it had been accusation and counter accusation as to who the aggressor was. Though political watchers contend that the attack may have been sponsored by the state government or its sympathisers to frustrate Shaibu from actualising his plan to return to his office from the airport.
Meanwhile, the government has threatened to deal with the embattled deputy governor or his agents who may have been responsible for sponsoring the violence.
After escaping the attack by the gun men, Shaibu and Okpebholo headed to the state secretariat of the APC where they went into a closed-door meeting with top officials of the party.
A legislative aide to Senator Okpebholo on media and communication, Godswill Inegbe, in a statement, pointedly accused the state government and a leader of the PDP, Francis Inegbeniki, of being the mastermind of the fracas.
Inegbe said, “This afternoon, the motorcade of Senator Monday Okpebholo, the APC governorship candidate, was brutally attacked by members of Edo State Security Network and Edo State government-sponsored thugs allegedly led by Francis Inegbeniki.
“During the unprovoked brutal attack, three mobile policemen attached to the security detail of Senator Okpebholo were injured with bullet wounds, while one of the policemen has been declared dead! Senator Monday Okpebholo is at this moment admitted in an undisclosed hospital in Benin receiving medical attention, and other members of his entourage who were victims of the brutal attack are in various hospitals in Benin City”.
However, responding to the ugly incident in a statement by the Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Osa Nehikhare, the government accused Shaibu of leading thugs through the Airport Road to unleash mayhem on innocent citizens going about their lawful businesses in the guise of enforcing a court judgement reinstating him, despite a stay of execution filed by the government, even though the government. In a pre-emptive move intended to frustrate his resumption, the authorities had fortified the deputy governor’s office located at Osadebey Avenue in the Government Reserved Area, (GRA) with swarms of members of the state-owned security outfit, ESSN.
Nehikhare said “The Edo State Government has observed the level of wanton destruction perpetrated by thugs and elements working in connivance with former Deputy Governor of the State, Philip Shaibu, in the guise of purportedly enforcing a judgement reinstating him in office.
“Shaibu led thugs through the Airport Road axis of Benin City, attacking innocent citizens and unleashing mayhem on private citizens who were going about their lawful businesses. The State Government, through this statement, is warning Shaibu to desist from this turn to violence in the pretense that he is enforcing a judgement. He is reminded that he is not above the law and is liable for the wanton destruction perpetrated by him and his co-travelers.
“Shaibu’s violent tendencies are well documented, and he has been warned at different times by respected figures of society, including the revered Benin Monarch to shun violence. We want to reiterate that Shaibu will face the consequences of violence that he has resorted to in pursuit of his aim to return to the Edo State Government House even when he is aware that a stay of execution of the judgement has been filed.
“We enjoin the general public to be calm and go about their lawful businesses as the government will continue to deploy the instrumentality of the state to restore and maintain law and order in the state in the face of undue provocation.”
Debunking the allegation against him, Inegbeniki insisted he was nowhere near the Airport not to talk of sponsoring or leading anyone to attack the motorcade of the APC candidate, positing that the allegation was a plot to tarnish his image.
According to him, “It is not true that I led or sponsored thugs on protest along Airport Road in Benin City. As I speak, I was never on Airport Road as at the time the said confrontation took place. It is very wrong for anyone for any reason to accuse me of leading or sponsoring any protest. I urge the government, security agencies and the public to disregard the falsehood. The election is around the corner, and I quite understand that my enemies would do anything desperately to blackmail me or tarnish my reputation”. He added that as a peaceful and law-abiding Nigerian, and at his age, being an elder statesman, he would never contemplate such act.