The former Chief Whip of the Senate and Edo South Senatorial leader of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Senator Rowland Owie, has distanced himself from the Tuesday attack on the residence of the former governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.
Owie, in his reaction to the development, said it amounted to “an insult to the intelligence of the Edo people”, any suggestion that he orchestrated the attacks on Odigie-Oyegun’s residence and the Edo State Secretariat of the ADC.
It be recalled that a few minutes after Odigie-Oyegun, Owie, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, and other Edo State ADC leaders received the 2024 Edo State governorship candidate of the LP, Mr. Olumide Akpata, into the party, some.
Suspected thugs stormed the ADC Secretariat, where three party members were shot, and the facility was vandalised.
The same suspected thugs thereafter moved to the Benin G. R. A. residence of Odigie-Oyegun, where the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was hosting Obi, shooting sporadically while destroying vehicles parked in front of the house.
While a distraught Odigie-Oyegun, in an interview with journalists shortly after the attack, linked the incident to the threat by Governor Monday Okpebholo that Obi must obtain permission from the state government before venturing into Edo State, a section of the political class believed that the attack on the residence of the elder statesman could have been as a result of the incident which occurred at Odigie-Oyegun’s on Monday when Owie and other chieftains of the ADC were locked out of a meeting held within the premises.
Owie, and the other affected ADC leaders, it would be further recalled, had protested the lockout by laying siege to Odigie-Oyegun’s gate until a detachment of policemen from the Edo State Police Command came and persuaded them to leave.
A statement endorsed by Senator Owie on Wednesday dismissed the insinuation that he might have orchestrated the attack, reaffirming his peaceful disposition to politics.
”In all my political life since 1979, when I was first elected into the House of Representatives, I have never been involved in violent politics.
“I have built a career on dialogue, legislative integrity, and service. I would not begin to tarnish a four-decade legacy now.
“To suggest I would sponsor an attack on a gathering where my own brother, Chief Oyegun, and respected colleagues like Peter Obi were present is not just a lie—it is an insult to the intelligence of the Edo people.” Owie stated.
Edo Police investigates attacks on ADC Secretariat and Odigie-Oyegun’s residence.
Meanwhile, the Edo State Police Command stated on Wednesday that it was already investigating the attacks on the ADC Secretariat in Benin City that occurred on Tuesday.
The Command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Eno Ikoedem, had said that “Investigation has already been started by the police.No arrest has been made as at now and we will communicate to you as investigation progresses”, when contacted for the development on the attacks.