Labour Party Senatorial Candidate for Enugu East, Mr Oyibo Chukwu, who was murdered with five of his supporters in Amechi on Wednesday evening, February 22, feared for his life and pointed fingers, News Express has learnt.

Information circulating in political circles in Enugu has it that the late Oyibo Chukwu confided in close friends and associates that he feared he was the target of political opponents desperate to stop his victory in Saturday’s senatorial election.

One of those who recently interacted with him, whose identity News Express could not establish, is quoted as saying: “I was with him on Saturday night in Enugu, sat next to each other in the same sofa, and he expressed the fear that he could be a target of the Ebeano political family given the obvious fact that he was coasting home to victory in the election, almost effortlessly.”

Another is quoted as saying: “He was in our house yesterday morning for breakfast and spoke about going to submit a formal report to the authorities about reliable intel they received from the Chimaroke camp about unleashing violence during the election period.”

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State, Mr Ahmed Ammani, has ordered intensive manhunt of those who killed the LP Senatorial Candidate.

The hoodlums also burnt to death a member of the Peoples Democratic Party and attacked the convoy of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Governorship Candidate in the state, Chief Uche Nnaji.

A statement issued by the command spokesman, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, in Enugu on Thursday said that the Commissioner, who visited scenes of the incidents, strongly condemned the barbaric acts, commiserated with the political parties and family members of the deceased.

He vowed to ensure that the perpetrators are fished out and made to face the full wrath of the law.

Ammani said the command and other security agencies were ready for the hoodlums and had emplaced security measures for peaceful and credible elections in the state.

The commissioner urged the citizens not to succumb to the cowardly antics of the hoodlums, “which are aimed at creating fear and disrupting the electoral process”.

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