The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has condemned the attacks on the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in Benin City, Edo State.
Omo-Agege said this in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Yomi Odunuga, in Abuja on Sunday.
Describing the development as callous, cowardly, inhumane and totally unacceptable that should be condemned by all, he noted that political practice in the country should not be allowed to degenerate to a situation where violence becomes the language of activism by both politicians and their supporters no matter how disgruntled such persons may be.
Oshiomhole was reported to have escaped a major attempt on his life by armed thugs who swooped on his Benin residence in Okorotun Street, GRA, on Saturday. The thugs were said to have shot sporadically into the air.
The lawmaker called on the police to fish out the perpetrators and bring them to book.
This, he noted, will serve as a deterrent to others that political violence is not the best way to resolve conflicts, if any.
“Such criminal attack, remains utterly condemnable and illegal. Whatever their grievances, they should learn to explore dialogue rather than resort to violence.
” I call on the police to get to the root of the matter by prosecuting those involved in the act. It is my belief that the fine principles and ethos of democratic practice do have inbuilt mechanisms through which internal wranglings can be resolved without recourse to violence as it was the case in Edo State on Saturday.
“I would like to call on the parties involved to explore those options that would strengthen the party as entrenched in the constitution of the APC as that is the best way to move the state and the nation to the Next Level in which all citizens are expected to reap the dividends of the trust they reposed in the government led by President Muhammadu Buhari”, he stated.
Omo-Agege also called on parents to warn their wards against political violence, adding that the attack negated democratic principles.
Yomi Odunuga,
Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, to the Deputy President of the Senate.
13-10-2019.