*  Arase
As tension builds up in Edo State over the successor to Governor Adam Oshiomhole, the alleged attempt on the life of his deputy, Dr. Pius Odubu has attracted the attention of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase.

 "The  IGP this afternoon, (Thursday)  directed that a high-powered team from the force CID should come and take over that matter and it will be in the overall interest of justice that we allow that team to do their work and then come out with the result of investigation.‎" The Edo State   Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Ezike, told journalists  after a maiden meeting with representatives of 20 political parties, including the APC and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, ahead of the September 10 gubernatorial election ‎in the state.

Also present at the meeting were the state DSS Director, Mr. Ibrahim Haliru; the Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Mr. Walter Akubuiroh, and Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Sam Olumekun.

Suspected thugs had last Saturday reportedly staged an attack during a visit by the deputy governor to meet with delegates of the All Progressives Congress at the party’s secretariat in Auchi LGA of the State

Seven persons, including a policeman and an operative of the Department of State Security, were said to have been injured during the incident.

While the campaign organisation ‎of Odubu, who is a gubernatorial aspirant of APC, alleged that the deputy governor was the target of the attack, the state government descrbied their claims as hasty and false.

But Ezike explained that the IGP resolved to set up a high-powered team of policemen from the Force Criminal and Investigative Department to unravel the circumstances surrounding the reported attack, in the interest of justice.

He said, "I have said that we will do the investigation. At the end of investigation, we are also going to have the courage to tell the world ‎the result of our investigation. I want to ask for caution; when we deal with very sensitive matters, we should not jump to the conclusion before the matter is investigated.


When asked if the police made any arrest during Tuesday fracas at the Edo State House of Assembly, Ezike said, "Something happened in the hallowed chambers; the hallowed chambers belong to the honourable members. 

"So, I doubt if it will be fair to be asking the commissioner of police about an incident that took place in the hallowed chambers. My job is to ensure the security of the House of Assembly and that I did."

 The  commissioner noted that the stakeholders meeting was aimed at assessing past electoral challenges, including the use of thugs, illegal firearms and hates, in order to promote a violence free election.

"You must continue to engage. If you identify the problems, you are halfway to solving the problems. If we have identified electoral violence, we have identified the bracket from where it comes and we have identified that the stakeholders need to be engaged to solve, you will then begin the understand the essence of this meeting.

Earlier, the resident electoral commissioner said that the commission had improved its operations, through an upgrade of technology.

This, according to him, includes the use of e-tracking to monitor the polling exercise.

He also said that INEC would begin the distribution of the old Permanent Voters Card soon.