The governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Enugu State, Barr. Chijioke Edeoga has called on the Enugu State government to urgently arrest an avoidable carnage ahead of the scheduled Saturday’s governorship and state legislative elections.

Edeoga, while addressing journalists on Tuesday, spoke on a wide range of issues, saying that the Labour Party had been justified with the recent arrest of some suspected hoodlums in several locations across the state.

According to him, the arrest had vindicated the LP’s earlier claim of alleged plot by the PDP to unleash wide scale violence across the State starting from the eve of the election.

Edeoga said: “Evidences abound of the determination of the PDP to cause trouble in Enugu State.

“In Isi-Uzo Local Government, a combined team of the military and the police, after due surveillance, swooped on a government guest house, where heavily armed imported mercenaries were arrested.

“They were kept for some time at the Divisional Police office in Ikem, from where they were moved to the State CID.

“Shortly before then, a combined team of Nigeria Police, the military and the DSS stormed another hideout in Igbo-Eze North Local Government and arrested heavily armed men; those people have been kept there to begin to fire gunshots on Friday to the election, to cause panic and apprehension.

“Yesterday, the security agencies were also informed of another presence of heavily armed men imported from outside Enugu and kept in a government facility in Agbani.”

He alleged further that it was the scenario in Uzo-Uwani, Ekwegbe in Igbo-Etiti, as well as other locations in the State.

“It is obvious that the council chairmen behind this are acting under instruction from above, which implies that these men are spread in the various 17 LGAs in Enugu State. These matters call for concern,” he stated.

He said he had earlier asked for an audit of the pump action guns approved for forest guards and neighbourhood watch groups in Enugu State, noting that “we have course to believe that the pump action guns recovered from the suspects arrested in Isi-Uzo may be traceable to the pump action guns approved for vigilantes and forest guards.

“We use this forum to ask that an immediate audit be done; a count should be done because we are worried about these developments, these heightened insecurity in the State.

“We also have it in good authority that some other persons in Nsukka LG have been coerced into accepting to work as clearing houses to unleash terror in the Nsukka zone. All these will not happen without the tacit approval of the state government.”

The Labour Party governorship candidate then begged the Governor of Enugu State, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, “to exit with honour because anything untoward, if there are deaths, if there are injuries, if there are destruction of properties, as the Chief Security Officer, he will be blamed.

“We appeal to him to look at his place in history; it is our wish and hope that history will be kind to him; exit is as important as the point of entry. I hope that his exit from office will not be trailed by avoidable massacre.

“I implore the governor to allow the people of Enugu State to freely choose who will govern them. 2023 is not 2003, the people have become more conscious. The communities are ready to defend their franchise from external invaders or even from homegrown miscreants. It is better for all of us that things go well.”

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