TheCable

John Oyegun, chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was absent at the inauguration of the campaign council of his party’s presidential candidate “due to his experience with robbers on very early on Monday morning”.

The event, which held in Abuja on Monday, was attended by stalwarts of the party.

In his opening remarks, Rotimi Amaechi, governor of Rivers state and the director-general of the campaign organisation, announced that Oyegun had to stay with his family, who were yet to recover from a robbery incident at their house in Abuja.

“I start this speech today on a sad note; our chairman is not here because armed robbers attacked him last night. They broke into his house and thoroughly tormented his family.

“I had to break the news because we were supposed to be protected by the federal government of Nigeria and if Abuja is no longer safe only God knows where else will be safe.

“If the APC chairman could be robbed like this in his house in the FCT, Abuja, what is the hope of the common man under this administration?

“The APC cannot save Nigeria alone. The change factor is initiated by God and influenced by the people of Nigeria and you all present here. Please do what you have to do to correct us, abuse us and do all you can so that we can take the lessons from your criticism.”

In an interview with SilverBird Television, Lai Mohammed, APC spokesman described the attackers as assassins.

“The APC national chairman’s home was invaded by assassins at 1:30am on Monday,” he said.

Meanwhile, the party has issued a statement urging the police to unravel what happened.

It said while Oyegun was away attending a previously unscheduled meeting in Abuja when the invaders struck, his wife who was at home was left deeply traumatised by the raid.

“The facts of the raid as available so far point to a sinister motive. For example, only Chief Oyegun’s room was ransacked in the whole house. Common sense dictates that if the invaders were robbers, they would have ransacked the whole house in search of money and other valuables which they might have believed were in the residence,” it said.

”The invaders, two burly men, removed the window burglar bars to gain access to the residence from the back, and then made straight for the bedroom of our national chairman. Police security was in place at the residence when the incident happened.”

Although APC said it did not know who was behind the raid, it added that it was “worth noting that the angry rhetoric and vitriolic personality attacks that have been directed at the opposition by the top leadership of the ruling PDP and their spokesmen have heightened tension and put the lives of opposition politicians at risk, ahead of the forthcoming elections.

It expressed gratitude to God for saving the lives of the APC national chairman and his wife, wondering what would have happened if the chairman had been home at the time of the raid.”