Emerging report from dailyexcessive news indicates that there was apprehension at King Square, popularly called Ring Road, in Benin City, the Edo State capital, on Saturday, following a clash between supporters of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ahead of the September 19, Governorship election.
Supporters of the Governorship Candidate of the APC, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, and the PDP Governorship Candidate, Governor Godwin Obaseki, engaged in a shoot-out around the Palace of the Oba of Benin.
It was learnt that trouble started when Governor Godwin Obaseki went to the Palace of the Oba of Benin, on a courtesy visit, but some supporters of the APC Governorship Candidate were said to have chanted songs allegedly demeaning the Governor and his entourage.
Obaseki, however, went ahead to conclude his courtesy visit to the Monarch, and left for the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, where the Edo State PDP Campaign Council for the 2020 Governorship Election was billed to flag-off.
Shortly after Obaseki left at about 1:30pm, the Candidate of the APC, Ize-Iyamu, and his entourage also paid a visit to the Monarch, but in what appeared to be a reprisal, the PDP youths who were initially at the Stadium, found their way to the Oba’s Palace, where they engaged in a free for all with their APC counterparts.
The youths and supporters from both the APC and PDP, sustained various degrees of injuries, while motorists scampered to safety, as some unlucky motorists had their vehicles vandalised in the heat of the confrontation.
Vehicles branded with the PDP and APC campaign logos were not spared in the attack, as they tried to navigate through the Airport Road and King Square.
