Men believed to be supporters of Abia PDP candidate protest with machetes and coffins

fuad lawal

April 24, 2015 12:43 AM

Hardline supporters of Ikpeazu in Aba carried coffins and brandished machetes covered in red, a traditional symbol warning of impending doom on their opponents.

Nigeria's 2015 gubernatorial elections saw different range of types of campaign strategies, from mind-blowing, intelligent methods, to outright stupid methods.

A very out-of-the-box and into-the-coffin strategy has been launched by some supporters of the governorship candidate of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu.

Hardline supporters of Ikpeazu in Aba brandished machetes covered in red, a traditional symbol warning of impending doom on their opponents.

On Wednesday morning, they placed coffins at strategic locations in Aba and painted it with signs like "Vote against Ngwa interest and die". Another sign read, "Vote for injustice and meet your death"

These actions were said to have created panic among the non-indigenes of the commercial capital of the state.

Dr. Ikpeazu, in a statement by his media aide, Enyinnaya Appolos, described the matter as barbaric and retrogressive, accusing his opponents of sponsoring the counter-productive actions to discredit him.

He further appealed to Aba residents to ignore the development and go about their lawful business without any fear of molestation.

The Police PRO, Abia State Command, Mr. Ezekiel Onyeke, confirmed the incident but said that the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joshak Habila, had directed all Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers to arrest anybody caught parading coffins for whatever reason.

The governorship elections were declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission and a re-run is scheduled for Saturday.

fuad lawal