Heavy gunfire from alleged political rivals marred the event in ward 7 of The Peoples Democratic Party PDP in the Edo Central Senatorial district on Thursday 19 January 2023
As a result the party suspended its rally.
The incident caused a commotion as party supporters ran for their lives while the Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly, Marcus Onobun, and other PDP leaders were evacuated to safer areas.
Confirming the incident, former Commissioner for Land and Survey and a leader of the PDP faction loyal to Governor Godwin Obaseki, Anslem Ojezua said the Police were handling the situation to know those responsible for the attack.
According to him, the campaign would continue as soon as they received good information from the police regarding the disruption of their peaceful rally.
He said: “We had to suspend our campaign today. Today was supposed to be the final stanza of the campaign in Esan Central. We were in ward 7 and having a very peaceful really when we heard gunshots in the vicinity of the rally in order to avoid injury and possible damage and loss of lives of people, we decided to evacuate immediately.
“We later got to hear that they were possible loss of lives. It was only wise and sensitive to suspend our campaign until when we are sure of what happened.
“We are reliably informed that the police are handling the situation and as soon as they give us better information then we can continue with our campaign”
