The All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied allegations that the convoy of its Edo State governorship candidate, Monday Okpebholo, was responsible for an accident that killed five people on Saturday.
Prince Kassim Afegbua, Director-General of the State’s APC Governorship Campaign Council, described the reports as “deceitful, misrepresentative, wrong-headed, spitefully contrived and utterly untrue.” He explained that a drunken driver rammed into one of the vehicles in Okpebholo’s convoy.
Afegbua stated: “A reckless and seemingly drunken driver rammed into one of the vehicles in our convoy, shortly after that driver overtook one other vehicle… He obviously lost control and left to fate, crashed into our vehicle. It was a fatal one, sadly.”
According to Afegbua, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) officials confirmed that the passengers in the car involved were also intoxicated. “On inspection, they concluded that the passengers in that vehicle must have been under the influence of alcohol; bottles of alcoholic drinks were seen inside the vehicle.”
The APC accused the Edo State government, Governor Godwin Obaseki, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of spreading false reports. Afegbua alleged: “In trying to play politics with the lives of accident victims, the Edo State government sat down, concocted a self-serving story, and sent it to many media houses.”
Okpebholo’s campaign team emphasized their sympathy for the victims’ families, while criticizing the PDP’s candidate, Asue Ighodalo, for politicizing the incident. Afegbua noted: “We saw that Asue Ighodalo quickly rushed to one of the victims’ houses to condole with the family, in a bid to score cheap political points.”
The APC demanded an apology and distanced themselves from exploiting the tragedy for political
