Political Thuggery: Uyi Omoregbe, OtherPFM Members On Wanted List

BENIN CITY – The 2015 general elections may have come and gone but the last is yet to be heard of the violence culminating in the loss of lives and destruction of property worth millions of Naira in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State.

This is even as the Edo State Police Command, through the Police Public Relations Officer,( PPRO), DSP Stanley Osifo has declared wanted some of the masterminds of the October 30, 2015 protests that wrecked havoc on the Community.

This is sequel to the massive resistance, anti-vote campaigns, raids , kidnappings and the outcome of the Senatorial and House of Representatives elections in Edo State.

The resistance said to have been allegedly championed by a group of activists and rights advocates under the aegis , People Freedom Movement (PFM), led by one Eranomigho had insisted that Governor Adams Oshiomhole failed to complete the Benin Water Storm Project which has claimed several lives, especially during heavy downpour.

According to reports, the PFM, which has several followers in Edo State, notable among them, One Uyi Omoregbe, Francis Okodogbe and Michael Aziba , have continued to lambast the Edo State Government under Governor Adams Oshiomhole , alleging that the Governor has been very insensitive to the plight of the people of Oredo Community.

The Movement , in a protest it organized on October 30, 2015 , mobilized and called on the people to vote against the ruling party in the State, following the recent death of a student who was submerged in a manhole dug during the abandoned construction of the infamous Benin Water Storm project undertaken by the State Government.

A source who spoke to newsmen in Benin City , on condition of anonymity, revealed that the protests erupted in Benin City when a student fell into a ditch on the Ekenwan road axis of the Water Storm project and was swept away by a heavy flood on his way from school.

The report said the death of the student led to a great uprising and disenchantment against the State Government, prompting wave of anti-vote campaigns against the ruling APC in the State .

This, the reports further claimed, resulted in the brutal raids and attempted kidnap of some of the activists, by those allegedly sponsored by the State Government.

“This particular death of the student is one too many. We will not keep quiet anymore, we must sustain our rally and campaign against this government. If the government was sensitive enough and alive to her responsibility, we would not have lost that innocent student”, the source said.

“There is great resistance and anti-vote campaign against Governor Oshiomhole, following the mishandling of the Benin Water Storm Project” he added.

“They are tagging our members touts and political thugs, raiding their houses, kidnapping and declaring them wanted just because we are calling them to be accountable to the promises they made during the last elections,” he further stressed.

Some PFM members who were greatly provoked by the death of the student and many other broken promises of the government, insisted that the Governor is not creating employment, rather, he is harassing political opponents and using state apparatus to oppress perceived enemies and trying to hound them into incarceration.

Meanwhile, reports have it that the organised protests and rally to ventilate anger against unfavorable policies of the government of the day, were brutally and promptly quelled by security agents who arrested some members of the People Freedom Movement (PFM) at the forefront of the campaign while others escaped .

Investigations have however revealed that some of the fleeing activists have been penned down on the wanted list by security agents , even as the Police command has urged members of the public to provide useful information on their whereabouts for a handsome reward.

Among those declared wanted are some members of the PFM including one Uyi Omoregbe, Francis Okodogbe, Michael Aziba and several other key supporters of the protests resident in the State.

A statement by the Edo State Police Command Image Maker, DSP Stanley Osifo, has however, warned those on the wanted list, in their own interests, to turn in themselves to explain their level of involvement in the wanton destruction of lives and property which characterised the violent anti-vote campaigns .

It could be recalled that violence broke out, resulting in loss of lives and large scale destruction of property worth millions of Naira, when security agents tried to stop and disperse the protesters with brute force.