Pandemonium and panic broke out on
Sunday, and that panic gripped the ancient city of Boji-Boji-Agbor, in the Ika
South local government area of Delta state. It began when an aide, one Hilary
Ibegbulem, and three armed thugs working for Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, confronted
an Agbor based Hotelier, Mr. Sunny Okonye, and shot at him several times with a
pump action shot gun at close range.
According to several eyewitnesses of
the accounts, sources told SaharaReporters that the attempted murder which
occurred in broad daylight, was not unconnected to the burning of Senator
Okowa’s 2015 governorship campaign billboard at the College of Education
junction, in Agbor. Mr. Okonye was accused to have done the burning of the
billboard, himself.
An impeccable source who witnessed
the shooting of the Hotelier, confided in a SaharaReporters correspondent, and
said that those who carried out the bloody attack were led by the senator’s
Special Assistant, Hilary. They are reportedly members of the ‘killer squad’ of
Senator Okowa, who are bent on killing anyone who dares to speak-out against
him, as well as those perceived not to be supporting his 2015 governorship
ambition.
Senator Ifeanyi Okowa represents the
Delta North Senatorial District of the state.
“Okowa has an armed gang that he uses
to terrorize our people, whom he thinks does not key into his ambition. We are
living in serious fear,” the source said. To emphasize the point, the source
added, “Once you are not for him, they frame you up, and go after you with
dangerous weapons. This was how this same killer squad sometime ago bloodily
attacked Mr. Friday Okoh, alias HERO, too. And if not for God’s intervention,
by now, he would have been a dead man. We are sick and tired of Senator Ifeanyi
Okowa, he wants to kill everybody because of his ambition. This is not the kind
of governor we Deltans need.”
Telling his story to SaharaReporters
in an undisclosed trado-medical clinic, the victim, Mr. Sunny Okonye, who is
also the owner of Sunny Guest House, named Boji Boji-Agbor, noted that on that
fateful day, after a usual association meeting in his guest house, he drove off
on to an errand, and along the way, he was confronted by the Senator Okowa’s
alleged killer gang. They accused him of burning down Senator Okowa’s 2015
governorship campaign billboard at the College of Education junction in
Agbor.
According to Okonye, he said that, “I
am innocent of the accusation, because I don’t expect myself to stoop so low,
and carry out burning of Senator Okowa’s billboard, or anyone’s billboard for
that matter. Of what gain and benefit is it to me? Nothing.
"Before I could make any
comment, the gang had already barricaded my car with their Mercedes Benz car,
and they then brought out three pump action guns, and started shooting at me
sporadically, (and) at a very close range. Even when I was shouting for help,
they continued the shooting, until I managed to enter my car, and drove
straight to the Agbor police station. From there, I was given a police paper
and rushed to a hospital,” he said still in pain from his wounds.
“I recognized very well those armed
thugs (were) working for Senator Okowa. Most especially, as the shooting was
going on, I saw, and recognized very well too, Okowa’s SA, called Hilary
Ibegbulem. (He was) telling the thugs, repeatedly, that they should make sure
that I am dead before they leave me, but as God will have it, I managed to
escape to the police station. I still want to repeat it, that I am very
innocent of what I am being killed for. I don’t know anything about the burning
of Okowa’s billboard.”
When contacted to know if any arrest
has been made so far, the Divisional Police Officer, (DPO), SP Dike Albert, who
was already set taking the victim, and the case to the state police
headquarters, in Asaba, declined comment to a SaharaReporters correspondent. He
insisted that the DPOs are not permitted to speak with the press, publicly, on
any issue.
All efforts to reach Senator Ifeanyi
Okowa for comments, at press time, proved unsuccessful, as he rebuffed all of
our calls, and text messages, and had placed his mobile telephone off-line.
SOURCE SAHARA REPORTERS
