Delta: Opposition tackles APC over pre-election Violence, warns against Rigging

The campaign organisation challenged the APC to focus on its candidate and policy proposals rather than relying on the mobilisation of governors, lawmakers and other political figures ahead of the Osun governorship election. The post Osun Poll: Adeleke’s campaign organisation dismisses APC’s ‘political heavyweights’ strategy for victory appeared first on Premium Times Nigeria. The Senator Ovie Omo-Agege Campaign Organisation has raised the alarm over what it described as a rising wave of political violence in Delta State, following a violent attack on a senior aide to Governor Sheriff Oborevwori during a meeting of All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders in Effurun on Sunday.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor, Hon. Temple Mudi, was reportedly attacked with stones, machetes and bottles by suspected thugs who disrupted the APC Delta Central Leaders and Stakeholders meeting held at the PTI Conference Centre. In a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by Godwin Anaughe, Special Adviser on Strategy and Communications to Senator Omo-Agege, the campaign organisation condemned the attack as “political thuggery, plain and simple,” and warned that it forms part of a troubling pattern building ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The statement noted that the Effurun incident came barely two weeks after the Governorship candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Deacon Chris Iyovwaye, was attacked by hoodlums while attempting to visit his community in Agholokpe. The candidate, the statement said, was blocked from reaching the town hall. “If members of the ruling party are willing to turn on each other with this level of violence, what exactly should the opposition expect once campaigning is in full swing?” the statement asked, describing the Agholokpe incident as evidence that “the same impunity that kept a Governorship candidate from his own people is now being turned inward on the ruling party’s own members.” The organisation called on the Delta State Commissioner of Police, the Department of State Services and the Inspector-General of Police to investigate both attacks, identify those responsible, and prosecute their sponsors.

It also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, civil society groups and the international community to intensify monitoring of Delta State, particularly Delta Central, in the run-up to the elections. “We will not be intimidated by this or by any act of political violence,” the statement read, adding that the organisation remains committed to “a peaceful, issue-based contest” and called on all stakeholders in Delta State to reject violence and defend the integrity of the ballot. The post Delta: Opposition tackles APC over pre-election Violence, warns against Rigging appeared first o…