Gunshots has disrupted the venue of the Justice Wilfred Kpochi-led, three-member Edo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal on Wednesday morning, causing widespread panic.
Judges, litigants, politicians, and reporters scrambled for safety to avoid being hit by stray bullets.
However, swift intervention by fully-armed security operatives restored calm, allowing the tribunal sitting at the Edo High Court Complex on Sapele Road, Benin, to continue.
Edo APC Chairman Jarret Tenebe, condemned the incident, describing the shootings as deeply disturbing and unacceptable.
Tenebe said: “The tribunal is a sacred space, where justice is meant to be administered impartially. Any act of violence within its walls undermines the very foundation of our legal system and threatens the safety of all involved.
“Regardless of political affiliation, resorting to violence to resolve disputes is never justifiable. We must all condemn the shootings in the strongest possible terms.”
Edo chairman of APC also stated that violence had no place in a civilised society, while declaring that the people that were responsible for the heinous act must be brought to justice swiftly and without exception.
However, the PDP alleged that the gunman’s actions were part of a broader APC strategy to intimidate and distract from the tribunal’s crucial deliberations. They pointed to the APC’s history of employing similar tactics to suppress opposition voices in local councils and public spaces.
“The APC is clearly using this strategy to intimidate and discredit us,” the PDP stated. “The fact that this gunman acted openly and was not arrested speaks volumes.”
The party called on law enforcement to immediately apprehend and prosecute the shooter, whose identity they claimed could be discerned from the viral footage.
The former representative of Edo Central Senatorial District, Senator Monday Okpebholo, of the APC, won the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo, and was inaugurated on November 12 last year.
Seven of 18 political parties that participated in the election, which filed petitions at the tribunal, were Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Action Democratic Party (ADP), Accord (A), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), and Action Alliance (AA), which wanted their candidates to be declared winner of the keenly-contested poll.
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