In what appears to be a dress rehearsal for the 2026/2027 electioneering, political violence erupted in Benin City, Edo State on Tuesday as hoodlums alleged to be members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) unleashed mayhem on the state secretariat of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) where they were receiving defectors from the Labour Party (LP) as well as the residence of a national leader, John Odigie-Oyegun.
Among ADC chieftains who escaped the sporadic shooting and vicious attacks were Peter Obi, former Anambra State governor and the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Odigie-Oyegun, former national chairman of the APC, now a chieftain of the ADC, Professor Oserhiemen Osunbor, former governor of the state, and Olumide Akpata, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, and the governorship candidate of the LP during the 2024 governorship election in Edo.
Newsmata.com.ng gathered that Obi was in Benin City to fulfill the promise he made last year to the St. Philomena College of Nursing, Benin, to pay an annual visit to support its infrastructure development and join Odigie-Oyegun and other party leaders in receiving Akpata and other defectors from the LP into the ADC.
Recall that last year, Obi had donated N15 million to the school, resulting in backlash from Governor Monday Okpebholo who barred him from further visits to Edo State without his permission.
Obi also donated another N15 million to the school during Tuesday’s visit. Governor Okpebholo claimed that the 2025 visit resulted in the death of three persons though the claim could not be substantiated.
Odigie-Oyegun suspected that the attack could have been targeted at Obi following Okpebholo’s threat last year that his safety would not be guaranteed if he visited Edo without his permission.
Some party faithful said it was for this reason Obi’s visit was not publicised, yet a mammoth crowd still thronged the secretariat as soon as they got wind that he was in town.
It was learnt that pandemonium broke out on Tuesday few minutes after leaders of the ADC, including Obi, had left the party’s secretariat at Ogbelaka Street, off Sokponba Road, venue of the defection when suspected political thugs arrived and started to shoot indiscriminately.
They were said to have arrived in an unmarked Sienna Bus and a motor cycle and started to vandalise the secretariat, destroying chairs, canopies, banners and other office items.
Some party members who were still at the party secretariat were reportedly injured during the attack.
Disappointed and enrage that they missed their real targets, the miscreants reportedly stormed Odigie-Oyegun’s residence where the leaders were holding a meeting inside, and released volley of bullets, damaging several vehicles parked near the entrance gate and shattering their windscreens.
Reacting to the incident, Obi said “it is time to speak up, it is time those in government act. They are not going to be there forever. What they allowed to happen in the country today will take its revenge on all of us and the country.”
A visibly perplexed Odigie-Oyegun feared that the incident could cause chaos in the country.
According to him, “I am afraid that our leaders, both at the centre and in this state are playing with fire. The consequences could be terrible, much more than any of you expect. I will still talk to the media.
“All I wish to say is holding a meeting, scheduled meeting, everybody informed, duly informed, normal meeting in the premises of the party secretariat today, halfway through the proceedings, we got intelligence report, certainly from one of the security agencies that they have information that the place is going to be attacked, so we should please try to wind up.
“Well, you can’t ignore information. So, we cut short our proceedings, and I think we were just barely lucky to have left there in time because thereafter, it looks like all hell broke loose. People arrived here in about 10 vehicles shooting all over the place, people injured. And so, the question is clear between the intel coming and our finishing the meeting.
“There was no cooperation, coordination between the security agencies such that that venue, at least, will get emergency protection. People were able to come in so many vehicles, shoot their way, break into the building, break the office property and the rest of it, and go away. And this is a state where we have a governor and where the first duty of any government is to protect us?”
On the attack on his residence, the former governor said, “They came here. I don’t know if it is a very interesting thing, but we had a guest, of course – the former governor of Anambra and one of the prominent leaders of the ADC. From all indications, an aspirant.
“So, whether that was what attracted the attack on my premises and my property, because the government here had threatened that if he came to Edo State without permission, his security cannot be guaranteed.
“He was paying a courtesy visit to me and bullets started raining all over the place in my state where I was governor. Edo State. When did we degenerate to that kind of level? So, I am still putting my thoughts together. But these are very dangerous, but not good for anyone.”
The APC however distanced itself from the incident, attributing it to the division in the party given what happened on Monday.
The commissioner for Information and Strategy, Kassim Afegbua said that APC or the state government cannot be blamed for the attack.
He argued that the party was already divided based on the issue that took place in Odigie-Oyegun’s house on Monday when some members of the party, including a former chief whip of the Senate, Roland Owie, were shut out of a meeting of leaders of the party.
According to Afegbua, Governor Okpebholo and some members of the state executive council were in Abuja attending a conference, disclosing that the governor had directed the Commissioner of Police to effect the arrest of the thugs.
Confirming the incident, the Edo State Police Command, in a statement, said, “On 24 February 2026 at about 2:55 p.m., a political gathering was held at the ADC State Secretariat located on Ogbelaka Street, off Sapele Road, Benin City, to welcome new members who defected from the Labour Party.
“Shortly after the event concluded, a group of suspected hoodlums disrupted the premises and chased attendees away. Personnel of the Command responded swiftly to the distress call, prompting the suspects to flee the scene.
“Some plastic chairs and canopies were damaged during the incident. No casualties were reported.
“Security has since been reinforced around the premises, and normalcy has been fully restored. The situation remains under control while investigations are ongoing to arrest the perpetrators of this crime”.
