Unknown Gunmen Allegedly Open Fire At APC Campaign Ground In Akwa Ibom [Photos]

Unknown gunmen opened fire at the campaign ground of the All Progressives Congress (APC) along Edet Akpan Avenue, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

A keke (tricycle) rider who witnessed the incident on Tuesday evening said he saw three men alight from a Toyota Hilux parked across the road, opposite the campaign ground popularly known as Nsima Ekere campaign ground.

He said the men walked across the road, stood by the gate of the campaign ground and then opened fire into the premises before they ran back to their truck and took off.

The APC has released a statement on the incident, including a photo of one person in a hospital bed, said to be one of the injured. The party accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of being responsible for the shooting.

Read the press statement below as released by the All Progressives Congress (APC), Akwa Ibom chapter.

We want to alert the nation and particularly, security agencies of the bombing and shootings that took place at the APC Campaign Office along Edet Akpan Avenue, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. The bombing and shooting, which took place at about 7:30 pm on Tuesday March 5, 2019, is another desperate attempt by the People’s Democratic Party, its thugs and militant groups that have swamped the state since the commencement of elections in February this year, to cause large scale violence, capable of preventing the March 9, 2019 from holding.

An eye witness account has it that the attackers came to the gate of the campaign office and threw a dynamite, which exploded, into the premises. The loud bang sent party agents, who had gathered for training, scampering for safety. In the ensuing melee, several gunshots were fired into the premises, which left three people badly wounded. Victims of the attack have been taken to a hospital in Uyo for treatment.

To prepare the way for what followed later in the evening, the PDP media went to town in the morning with photographs of thugs being loaded somewhere in Edo state, purportedly heading to Akwa Ibom State. A few hours later they went to town announcing the arrival and arrest of the supposed thugs from Edo. Whether the attack on the Campaign office was part of this choreographed narrative or not, the PDP has crossed the red line in their desperation for this week’s governorship election.

While we sympathize with those who sustained injuries in the attack, we call on security agencies to get to the roots of this latest onslaught against the All Progressives Congress in Akwa Ibom State. This is another in the series of cowardly attempt at intimidating and cowing our party the APC and its supporters in the build up to the March 9, 2019 governorship election in the state. Some months ago, unknown gunmen fired shots into the bedroom of the APC governorship candidate, Obong Nsima Ekere, at his Ewet Housing Estate residence, with his family members narrowly escaping the attack.

The attack at the campaign office is a confirmation of earlier intelligence received by our party of the likely attempt by the PDP to truncate the March 9, 2019 governorship polls in the state. Intelligence at our disposal indicates that faced with imminent defeat at the polls, Gov. Emmanuel and the PDP have decided to disrupt the polls in Akwa Ibom state if they are prevented from carrying out another wholesale electoral robbery like the one they perpetrated during the presidential and National Assembly elections in collusion with the Independent National Electoral Commission. To achieve this ungodly aim, the PDP has continued to wantonly import militants and murderous thugs to intimidate and harass Akwa Ibom people and stop them from freely casting their votes.

We warn that our party will not fold her arms and allow the PDP wreck havoc on the state. We appeal to the law enforcement agencies to comb the state, root out all the criminal thugs the PDP has infested the state with and ensure that our people are allowed to freely cast their votes. Akwa Ibom people are resolute in their determination to resist the PDP and INEC in their combined rape of the electoral process in the state. No amount of bombs and scary shootings can change this resolve.

The APC Campaign Council, hereby urge all APC supporters and Akwa Ibom voters to remain calm and vigilant, as we are confident that the security agencies will be decisive in ensuring that perpetrators of this violent act will be apprehended and made to face the full weight of the law. We urge all Akwa Ibom people not to be deterred or intimidated into not coming out to cast their votes to enhance our collective prosperity. Akwa Ibom State indeed deserves the best.

We maintain that no desperation for an undeserved second term is worth the blood of any Akwa Ibom citizen. This fear-induced wickedness must cease. Gov. Udom Emmanuel should know by now that the majority of Akwa Ibom voters have rejected him for his poor philosophy of governance and lack lustre performance in office and no vote buying, no bombs, no shootings and no criminal collusion with INEC can save him from an excruciating defeat come March 9, 2019.

Signed.
Hon Eseme Eyiboh.
Chairman, Information and Strategic Communication committee and spokesperson, AKwa Ibom State APC Campaign council.