Omo-Agege To Delta Govt: Investigate Attacks, Stop Treating Political Violence As Campaign Strategy

Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has called for an immediate, independent and impartial investigation into two separate attacks on his supporters in Delta State, accusing the state government of downplaying political violence as “campaign strategy.”

In a press statement issued Tuesday and signed by Godwin Anaughe, Special Adviser on Strategy and Communications to the former Deputy President of the Senate, Omo-Agege condemned comments by Delta State Commissioner for Works and Public Communication, Charles Aniagwu, who described the incidents on Arise News as part of a “campaign strategy.”

“Frankly, that’s troubling,” Anaughe said. “When people gather peacefully for a political meeting and end up attacked by armed men, when they are injured, and their campaign venue is later invaded and torn apart, the right response from a government official is to condemn it, investigate it, and reassure the public. Not turn the victims into a talking point.”

According to the statement, the first incident occurred on *August 13* during a ward-to-ward engagement in Usiefrun, Ughelli South LGA. He alleged that armed men attacked members of their political family gathered to receive Omo-Agege, leaving six people injured, with several requiring hospital treatment.

The second attack, he said, happened on *August 21* when “more than 50 armed men allegedly stormed and destroyed” a campaign venue prepared in Uvwie. Witnesses, the statement added, claimed the alleged leader of the group, *Emmanuel Erube*, threatened that Senator Omo-Agege would be killed if he showed up for campaign activities in the area.

“These allegations deserve a real, impartial investigation, not a shrug,” Anaughe stated, noting that there are injured persons, a wrecked venue, witnesses, and a named individual.

The statement also pushed back against Aniagwu’s claim that Omo-Agege “has no message,” arguing that the Senator has spent months engaging NDC members and voters across Delta Central, laying out his programme directly.

“That message is landing. That’s the part nobody in government wants to say out loud,” the statement read. “A Commissioner does not go on national television to complain that a candidate ‘has no message’ unless that message is already doing damage.”

He raised questions about the management of public funds under Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, citing “more than ₦4 trillion reported to have come into the state”, described as the largest sum any Delta governor has received. “Deltans deserve a straight answer on where that money went,” he said.

He also referenced what it called “credible links” to a standing order to eliminate the former Deputy President of the Senate, calling it “a security and governance question” that requires investigation and public disclosure.

Addressing the recurring issue of the Emevor-Orogun Road, the statement said infrastructure promises should not be used to deflect from allegations of violence.

“Finish the road, people need it. But a construction project is not a shield against allegations of political violence. No government gets to point at a road with one hand while armed men roam free with the other,” Anaughe said.

The statement accused the government of deflection, noting that Aniagwu “never denied either attack happened. He could not because they did.”

He demanded an immediate investigation, in line with Nigerian law, into Emmanuel Erube and all alleged participants in the attacks, a full probe into the threats against Senator Omo-Agege, and into whether anyone directed, financed, or facilitated the attacks and prosecution of those found culpable.

“We are not interested in a political mud fight, and we will not be talked out of demanding accountability,” Anaughe said. “The people of Delta State have a right to take part in politics without fear or intimidation.”

The statement concluded that until the incidents are properly investigated, “no press appearance, campaign slogan, or road commissioning is going to make the underlying questions go away.”