Peter Obi, Nigeria’s former presidential candidate and one of the country’s most prominent opposition figures, narrowly escaped what his aides have described as an assassination attempt in Edo State on Tuesday, after gunmen opened fire on a convoy of opposition politicians at the residence of former ruling party chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.
Dr Yunusa Tanko, formerly Obi’s campaign spokesman and currently National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement Worldwide, issued a statement from Abuja confirming the attack, which he said occurred shortly after the formal declaration of senior lawyer Olumide Akpata as a member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). Armed men, he said, trailed the group from the ADC Secretariat directly to Chief Odigie-Oyegun’s private residence, where they shot at the gate and set upon several vehicles parked within the compound.
“Peter Obi and the leadership of the ADC are under siege and attack in Benin, Edo State,” Dr Tanko said. “They shot at the gate and destroyed several vehicles in what appears to be a survived assassination attempt on our lives. Democracy is in danger.”
Photographs and video footage circulated by Dr Tanko showed the windscreens of multiple sport utility vehicles smashed beyond repair, whilst the gate to Chief Odigie-Oyegun’s residence bore visible bullet holes — physical evidence consistent with sustained gunfire at close range. Obi was photographed alongside ADC chieftains inspecting the damaged vehicles and the bullet-riddled gate in the aftermath of the assault.
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No group had claimed responsibility for the attack at the time of publication, and the Edo State Police Command had not responded to requests for comment. The incident has not been independently verified by security authorities, though the photographic and video evidence circulated by those present suggests a serious and deliberate assault.
The attack comes at a particularly fraught moment for Nigeria’s opposition. It occurred barely 24 hours after the ADC’s candidate in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) chairmanship election, Dr Moses Paul, along with the Obidient Movement, formally rejected the results of the 21 February poll. In a statement issued in Abuja on Monday, Dr Paul accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of mishandling the exercise, alleging voter suppression, result manipulation, intimidation of party supporters, and widespread vote-buying across several wards.
INEC had declared Christopher Maikalangu of the APC the elected AMAC chairman, crediting him with 40,295 votes from a total of 62,861 valid ballots cast. Dr Paul finished a distant second with 12,109 votes, with the People’s Democratic Party candidate a further remove on 3,398.
Chief Odigie-Oyegun, who served as APC National Chairman between 2014 and 2018 before falling out with the party’s leadership, had not issued a public statement regarding Tuesday’s incident as of the time of filing. Obi, the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, whose strong showing at the polls and subsequent legal battle kept him at the centre of Nigerian opposition politics, remains one of the most recognisable faces of the movement challenging the current administration.
