The All Progressives Congress (APC) at the weekend accused the Edo State commissioner of police, Funsho Adegboye, of complicity in the attack on its gubernatorial candidate, Sen. Monday Okpebholo and reinstated deputy governor, Philip Shaibu.
Gunmen had attacked the two on Thursday while leaving the Benin Airport shortly after arriving from Abuja aboard a chartered flight.
The party at a press conference in Benin yesterday called for the sack of the police commissioner.
Addressing newsmen, the director of media, APC campaign council for the election, Kassim Afegbua, said the ruthless shooting and killing of a policeman was witnessed by the police chief.
He said the party had petitioned the inspector-general of police to look into the case and check how the police commissioner undermined the role of the police.
According to him, some members of the party who saw the commissioner at the airport shared the intelligence of what was about to happen, but he ignored it.
“It is disheartening to observe that while the ruthless shootings were going on, the commissioner of police was on ground at the Benin Airport and he did nothing to repel the vicious attack which led to death of one of his officers.
“As fate would have it, it was our candidate’s police attache that was killed, our candidate and the deputy governor missed death by the whiskers.
“From eyewitness accounts, it is very clear that some of these hoodlums are members of the Edo Vigilante Network who were fully knitted in their uniforms.
The director of media described the attack on the candidate as an assassination attempt and disdain for peace that the state and its people was known for.
But reacting, the commissioner of police exonerated himself of any wrongdoing during the mayhem.
He refuted the claim that intelligence was shared with him ahead of the attack, saying there was no crisis throughout his stay at the airport.
“I had information that some people gathered at the airport, and I went there because our goal was to maintain law and order. Where we discover we have a crowd, we will go there. So we were there, myself and my men and it was after these people left the airport that we learnt about the shooting which led to the death of the inspector.
“Nobody gave me any intelligence on what was about to happen. There was no single incident at the premises of the airport,” he said.
He added, however, that investigation was ongoing and those whose linked to the incident would be arrested soon.
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