Ekweremadu Campaign Organisation Raises the Alarm over Continued Attack on Members

Gideon Arinze in Enugu

Campaign organisation of Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Ikeoha, has raised alarm over the increasing wave of attacks intended to discourage supporters of the former Deputy President of the Senate ahead of the 2023 governorship elections in Enugu State.

The organisation also called on security agencies in the state to fish out and prosecute all perpetrators of violence in the State, noting that only a free, fair, transparent, and credible process can guarantee that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, under which Ekweremadu is contesting, will come out of the 2023 general election stronger and more viral.

Recall that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had on Saturday, April 30, 2022, held a Ward Congress for the election of a three-man ad-hoc delegate in all the 260 Wards, especially as it pertains to the resurgence of thuggery, political violence and banditry in Enugu politics.

Addressing newsmen in Enugu, director-general of Campaign Organisation, Charles Asogwa, said that the rate of intimidation and harassment of supporters by agents of the state, including the present detention in prison of Paulinus Ugwu, the PDP Ward Chairman for Okpatu and detention and subsequent charge to the court of some of our supporters for baseless offences has become a huge source of concern. 

The organisation noted that apart from the attack at the 9th April 2022 monthly meeting of the Aninri Local Government Area Chapter of the PDP, the trend took yet another dangerous dimension during the 30th April 2022 Ward Congress, including the attempted attack on the country home of the Director-General of the campaign organisation at Ede Oballa, Nsukka and disruptions of ward congresses in Awgu and Igboeze North.

It alleged that in Igboeze North, for instance, an Ekweremadu supporter, Bertrand Ugwu, was thoroughly assaulted by the personnel of the Enugu State Forest Guard/Neighbourhood Watch allegedly at the instance of a Council Chairman and a former Commissioner/House of Representatives aspirant, who ‘watched as dangerous weapons, including machetes and broken bottles were used on Ugwu.

It however regretted that the state government had not shown a clear commitment to deal with the lingering cases of attacks on its members. 

“While the primary purpose of government is the security of the lives and property of the people, it beats our imagination that all this political violence has continued unabated, while the security agencies appear complacent,” the organisation said.

The organisation recalled that Ekweremadu had severally called on the national and state leaderships of the PDP to ensure a free, fair, transparent and therefore credible process so that whoever emerges as PDP’s flag bearer for any of the positions will be embraced by all. 

It maintained that although the supporters and associates of Ekweremadu were currently at the receiving end of the resurgence of political thuggery and violence in Enugu State, political banditry remains an ill wind that blows no one any good. 

“And those who support this evil, including those who have decided to look away or sit on the fence at this time of moral crisis, should also remember that what goes around will always come around,” it said.