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Two days to the 2023 general election, Oyibo Chukwu, the senatorial candidate of the Labour Party in Enugu East Senatorial District was killed.
Chukwu was killed at Amechi, Awkunanaw local government area of Enugu while returning from a campaign rally by a gang of gunmen on Wednesday, February 22, 2023.
The gunmen killed the politician alongside five supporters who were with him in his vehicle and set all of them ablaze.
Confirming the incident, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party, Chijioke Edeoga, said Labour Party members are being targeted for assassination by politicians who feel threatened by the rise of the party in Enugu.
He said, “It is true that our senatorial candidate for Enugu East senatorial district for Saturday’s election has been killed. They (gunmen) shot him and five others and set them ablaze.
“Our party members are being targeted for assassination by political parties that felt threatened by the rise of the Labour Party in the state and are afraid they may lose the Saturday’s election.”
Reacting to the incident, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and presidential candidate in the 2019 election, Kingsley Moghalu said the victim was his classmate at the University of Nigeria, Enugu campus.
He tweeted: "What a tragedy! I’m deeply saddened. Oyibo was my classmate at the University of Nigeria (Enugu Campus) Law Faculty. Does politics have to be this desperate and violent? May his soul rest in peace. My sincere condolences to Oyibo Chukwu’s family".
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to promptly investigate the killing of the Labour Party candidate and ensure that the perpetrators are arrested and prosecuted.