Lawyer and member of the National Working Committee, African Democratic Congress, (ADC), Dr. Kenneth Okonkwo has alleged that the recent attack on ADC’s political leaders is a genocide that targets political opponents.
The lawyer said this in an interview on ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, following the recent attack on ADC’s leaders in Benin City, Edo state.
“This was an assassination attempt by people I can describe as either the governmental people or their agents. This is genocide against political opponents”, he alleged.
He further claimed that the ruling party is deliberately working to eliminate opposition parties in a bid to establish a one-party state.
“This government has started trying to do genocide against political parties. You must have heard when they said that it’s like we are tilting towards a one-party state, and this was orchestrated by APC to ensure that there is no other party. That is what genocide means. Having failed to ‘genocide’ all the political parties, because ADC, from the kingdom of grace, just emerged, their only choice now is to wipe out the opposition leaders, and that is the next era they are going into. It’s a premeditated attack channeled towards intimidating the opponents”, he said.
Confirming if there were casualties, Okonkwo said:
“We cannot say that they killed anybody, but other people were injured. We are yet to know about the casualty figures because it happened today.”
He further noted that 3 former governors were at the scene of the attack.
“One thing is very, very telling; three governors were in that venue. Three former governors. John Oyegun, former governor of Edo State; Professor Osunbor, former governor of Edo State; former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi. Three governors. And the federal government, with the state government, could not provide enough security for their safety”, he noted.
Dr. Okonkwo also said that there was no security at the venue, hence the attack happened.
“You know, this government, in order to ensure the intimidation of the opponents, they withdrew, purportedly, the security. You know that time the government said they were withdrawing policemen from everybody else? They withdrew the security of John Oyegun and all the other people. If the security was there, they wouldn’t be attacked. So there was no security, basically. And then that’s why I said it’s genocide”, he said.
Okonkwo confirmed that the incident has been formally filed with the appropriate authorities.
“They reported the incident. Oyegun told me that the Commissioner of Police was magnanimous enough to visit him, but what we do not know is what happens after then, because most of those things had happened and it died down and was swept under the carpet”, he said.
Okonkwo dismissed claims that the shooting incident in Benin City was isolated, arguing that similar attacks and disruptions had occurred across the country.
“In Lagos State, the ADC leader in Lagos State, who was the Labor Party gubernatorial candidate, when he wanted to have a meeting, he was disrupted by thugs. They wounded and nearly killed people in Lagos State, right in front of security agencies.
“And Momodu, you may not have heard, he has accused ADC that they are the ones sponsoring cultism and that he is going to demolish their houses. So a pattern has emerged”, he asserted.
He maintained that the incidents pointed to a broader, coordinated plan to suppress opposition.
“There is a premeditated plan to destroy opposition leaders since their plan to destroy the opposition political parties has failed.”
He further dismissed claims that the incident could have happened as a result of internal political rivalries.
“What will the rivalry be for? We are not doing our primaries, we are not doing our elections. There’s no rivalry”, he declared.
Dr. Okonkwo dismissed government investigations as effective, and he also called for an independent probe into the incident.
“We have waited for police reports on the killings in the North, on the attacks in the South-East, and on the electoral violence of 2023. What has come of them? In Nigeria, ‘investigation’ is often the graveyard of justice. We are calling for an independent probe. We don’t want a report from the people we are accusing. We want a transparent process. And I will say this clearly: if the state continues to fail in its primary duty of protecting lives, they are inviting the people to exercise their right to self-defense. And no one should act surprised when that happens”, he warned.
Affirming that campaigns would go on, Dr. Okonkwo insisted that ADC will continue reaching out to Nigerians.
“We are not going anywhere. We will continue our engagements. We will talk to the people. We will show them that we are not afraid. You can destroy our cars, you can blast our gates, but you cannot stop a people whose time has come. The ‘Obidient’ spirit and the ADC’s vision are now one and the same – a quest for a new Nigeria where bullets do not decide winners”, he concluded.
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