Those behind yesterday’s bomb attack in Benin City, capital of Edo State, are now in police net. Edo State Police Commissioner, Mr. Folusho Adebanjo, disclosed this while confirming the blast to newsmen. He assured that investigation has started into the incident and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.

ComPol Adebanjo spoke even as Governor Adams Oshiomhole and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader in the state, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, traded words over the blast which rocked Shalom Dental Clinic owned by Pastor Ize-Iyamu’s wife. Addressing reporters, Ize-Iyamu accused Oshiomhole, with whom he has enaged in running battles, of masterminding the attack.

Oshiomhole, however, rejected Ize-Iyamu’s claims in a statement issued later in the day by his Commissioner for Information, Louis Odion, describing the accusation as another phase in what clearly had become the desperation of the PDP to spread falsehood and sow fear in the minds of the people of Edo State with a view to simulating a crisis.

He wrote: “For the avoidance of doubt, the Edo State Hovernment wishes to state that the report of bomb explosion at the Edo Government House is patently false.

“No sooner had the purported ‘bomb attack’ been reported by an online medium with further claim of bomb explosion within Government House, than Mr. Ize-Iyamu quickly called a press conference to point fingers at the Governor, Comrade Adams Eric Oshiomhole, as the mastermind of the explosion at the clinic owned by his wife.

“By Ize-Iyamu’s ludicrous account and his haste to accuse Comrade Oshiomhole of culpability for a supposed crime yet to be investigated, we are persuaded to believe he is merely acting out a script. It is laughable indeed that any sane man will be targeting an obscure clinic that is, at best, now moribund.

“Mr Ize-Iyamu’s wild allegation fits into PDP’s jaded style of stage-managing assaults on its agents to be used as pretext by its thugs to attack officials of Edo State Government and agents of the APC.

“Again, Mr Ize-Iyamu’s reference to cultists being engaged against PDP is ironic and laughable. Even as full-time president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Oshiomhole was known for his non-violence philosophy. On the contrary, Edo people know those with the history of cultism and violence dating back to their school days.

“Against the backdrop of this latest purported attack on his wife’s clinic, which we believe was stage-managed, we wish to alert the police to put Pastor Ize-Iyamu and his co-travellers under close watch as allegations of this nature had always been the prelude to staging an attack on All Progressives Congress (APC) members in the state in the past.”

Odion further asks the PDP to look within its ranks to get to the root of the attack on a former member of the Edo State House of Assembly, Mr Rasaq Momoh.

He also called on the police to thoroughly probe top leaders of the PDP for the attack on the Edo State Legislative Quarters on October 11.

•File photo shows Edo State Police Commissioner Folusho Adebanjo speaking with journalists.

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