Enugu All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Senator Ayogu Eze, has denied that an election observer was killed in his compound.
The media aide to the APC governorship candidate, Clinton Umeh, in a statement in Enugu on Sunday, described the reports circulating on social media as false.
Reports went viral on Saturday on social media of an election observer shot dead in Mr Eze’s home in Umuozzi, Enugu Ezike in Igboeze North local government during the governorship and state assembly elections.
“No observer was killed in our principal’s house or anywhere near it. What is circulating in the social media is pure fake news, obviously fabricated by those who sent the team to the house of the governorship candidate,” the statement read.
Mr Umeh, however, said that the true story was that two vehicles with Enugu State Government registration numbers drove into the senator’s residence, claiming to be carrying election observers.
Umeh added that while one of the vehicles drove inside the senator’s compound, the other remained outside.
He said Eze’s supporters saw this as unwarranted intrusion, especially as they allegedly saw logos of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in one of the vehicles.
The atmosphere turned rowdy, according to him, forcing one of the police officers in the premises to shoot into the air to disperse the crowd.
The aide then alleged that the policeman’s hand slipped, according to eyewitnesses, sending a bullet to a supporter of the APC who died on the way to the hospital.
Umeh said the affected police officer and the so called observers, whose identities were questionable, had been handed over to law enforcement agents.
Enugu police spokesperson, Ebere Amaraizu confirmed the incident, adding that investigation into the matter had begun.
