No empirical evidence to show any attack on LP supporters – Police

Lagos State Police Command yesterday said it had yet to see any empirical evidence to show any form of attack on supporters of the Labour Party at Epe.

A former commissioner under the immediate past administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode in Lagos, Olawale Oluwo, had said he escaped unhurt when he was reportedly shot at on Saturday.

He said the incident occurred during the campaign walk of the Labour Party governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, in Epe Local Government Area of the state.

Oluwo, the candidate of the Boot Party for the March 18 Governorship election, recently collapsed his structure for the LP.

He said he was with a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Noheem Balogun, who was the opposition party’s House of Representatives Epe Federal Constituency candidate, and other stalwarts at the campaign.

But in a telephone chat with Daily Trust, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, said that although, a report to that effect was made on Sunday, investigations revealed that there was no empirical evidence to show any such attack took place.

Hundeyin said the Divisional Police Officer of Epe Division visited the scene to carry out an on-the-spot investigation, but that after hours of investigation, the team did not see any pointer that suggested an attack

“The police are not saying that they are lying, but like the build up to the Presidential and National Assembly, we saw videos of attacks and those who had been injured on social media.

“There was no such evidence when the police visited the scene. We are still yet to see anyone come up to say that he or she was injured in the attack.

*So for now there is no evidence to show of any such attack,” he added.

Speaking on the Saturday attack in a post on his Facebook page, Oluwo said the attack took place in Ita Opo area of Lagos during the campaign procession of LP.

He said despite the attack, the procession was successful except “for the actions of a few misguided elements, suspected to have been sponsored from the most unexpected quarters, to perpetrate tension and violence.”

“Gbadebo was present, being the overall team lead for the procession. Thank God the bullets missed the targets but my special gratitude goes to my security orderly who promptly returned fire to repel the two assailants. A report is being lodged with the police on the incident.”

Rhodes-Vivour also confirmed the attack on his verified Twitter handle yesterday, saying, “Yesterday’s rally was great, we connected and saw supporters in Epe. We were attacked but we are all safe and secure.”