By Moshood Adebayo

Edo State Deputy Governor, Dr. Pius Odubu, yesterday narrated how he escaped death in the hands of suspected assassins in Etsako West Local Government Area of the state Saturday.

An aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the September 10 governorship election, Odubu was reportedly holding a meeting with delegates at Auchi when armed thugs attacked him.

The deputy governor had on Wednesday declared his intention to contest for the governorship.

Before the attack, he had earlier been allegedly denied access to the party secretariat at Fugar, headquarters of Etsako Central Local Government Area of the state.

Odubu, who spoke during a press briefing by his campaign organisation in Benin, said he had to be shielded inside a hall to avoid “direct bullet contacts.”

Speaking on behalf of the Odubu Campaign Organisation, former Minority Whip in the House of Representatives, Mr. Samson Osagie, said preliminary investigation by the organisation had revealed three suspected masterminds of the attack.

Osagie, who called on the national leadership of the APC to intervene, described the attack as “an act of cowardice perpetrated by those who dread a free, fair and credible democratic contest” and an attempt to

compel the deputy governor to “quit the governorship race or be eliminated.”

According to the pro-Odubu’s organization, “the attack was orchestrated directly at Odubu and geared towards disrupting the aims of the campaign, but he was shielded, while seven persons sustained various degrees of injury and were receiving treatment at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital and another hospital in Auchi.

But the Edo State government in a reaction yesterday condemned “in very strong terms the ugly incident at Auchi,” but noted that the conclusion of the Odubu Campaign Organisation on alleged assassination attempt was hasty as preliminary reports suggest that the fracas was caused by thugs loyal to the Odubu campaign imported in two truck-loads to Auchi who attacked other party loyalists not sold to the deputy

governor’s aspiration.

The statement said Governor Adams Oshiomhole has directed the Commissioner of Police to unravel the immediate and remote causes of the incident and whoever that is found culpable will be made to face the full wrath of the law no matter how highly placed.