The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party in Rivers State, Senator Magnus Abe, narrowly escaped death when some hoodlums attacked his campaign train.
It was learnt that Abe and his supporters were on their way to Mbiama in Ahoada West Local Government of the state when they were ambushed by armed men believed to be political thugs.
The gunmen reportedly suddenly surfaced at Akinima, also in Ahoada West LGA and used vehicles to block the campaign train from further entering the area.
Soon afterwards, the hoodlums started shooting sporadically, even as the security operatives attached to Abe tried to contain the situation.
An eyewitness said, “You know we went to Ahoada West today. While we were heading to Mbiama, the boundary between Rivers and Bayelsa states, somewhere at Akinima, a group of heavily armed youths intercepted us. Before you know it, they started shooting and most of us took to our heels.”
A video of the scene of the attack has since gone viral.
Reacting to the incident, Abe, a former senator representing Rivers South-East, said, “We went there and they went and used two vehicles to block the road so that we could not get there. Nigeria is a democracy and all of us have the right to go to the people and share our ideas with them.”
When contacted, the spokesperson of the state police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, promised to find out from the relevant police division and revert.
She had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.
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