Otti’s Assassination Attempt Claims, “Cry Of A Drowning Man” – Ikpeazu

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has rubbished claims by the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APC), Dr. Alex Otti, that there was an assassination attempt on his life at his Abuja residence recently.

Reacting to the claim, Ikpeazu in a release by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Godwin Adindu, said “Otti is merely trying to whip up sentiments to attract the sympathy of the security agencies and the electoral tribunal to his disastrous petition” adding that “his lamentation is the cry of a drowning man”.

The APGA candidate had last Friday in Umuahia, the state capital, addressed a press conference where he alleged that his private guest house in Abuja was attacked by unknown gunmen, who killed a policeman on duty at the guest house.
Otti, who said he had left Abuja on Thursday morning for Umuahia before the attack occurred, said, “It was a clear case of assassination attempt on my life but the God I serve did not allow them to succeed”.

According to the former Diamond Bank Chairman, the assailants scaled over the rear fence of his guest house around 2a.m and killed a policeman on duty in the premises during the raid.
Debunking the APGA candidate’s version of the event, Ikpeazu said his enquiries with the Force Public Relations Officer, CP Emmanuel Ojukwu “revealed that the incident did not exactly take place at Otti’s guest house neither was the policeman of the Special Protection Unit killed in Otti’s residence”.

“I have spoken with the Force PRO, Mr. Emma Ojukwu and he confirmed to me that there was an attack in the Maitama area of Otti’s private guest house, but that the attack was not exactly at his residence and that the policeman killed was not killed in his residence”, he said.

According to Ikpeazu, the FPPRO confirmed that the policeman was killed in the building housing NESTOIL, which is a totally different compound from where Otti’s guest house is located.
He insisted that “Otti’s claim is part of his grand plan to influence the tribunal through emotional pressure to move the sittings to Abuja”.

Ikpeazu noted that Abia had no security issues that would warrant relocating the tribunal to Abuja as allegedly being sought by Otti, who is challenging his (Ikpeazu’s) election as governor.