Gunmen kill Rivers ANPP chairman

Gunmen have killed  the Rivers State Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Mr. Julius Nwaofu.

Nwaofu was said to have been shot several times by his assailants while on his way home from the Port Harcourt International Airport.

Caleb, son of the late ANPP chief,  told our correspondent in a telephone interview that his father was killed  at about 8.30pm on Airport Road in Ikwerre Local Government Area.

He said, “We are shocked that our father could die in such a manner. My mother  had gone to the Port Harcourt Airport to pick up our dad and as they were coming back home   some armed men stopped their car and shot him.”

He added that his father had been receiving  threat messages from unidentified persons few weeks before he was killed.

Confirming the incident, the  Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Ben Ugwuegbulam, said the police had commenced investigation into the killing.

 Former ANPP National Vice-Chairman, South-South, Chief Asukewe Iko-Awaji, described Nwaofu’s  assassination  as “barbaric”.

Iko-Awaji called on the state government, the police and other security agencies to do  ensure that  his  killers  were apprehended.

“I am in the opposition; who knows who would be the next? Marshal Harry died, A.K. Dikibo also died. Today, it is Nwaofu. The state government should assist in the investigation because apart from being a party man, Nwaofu was also a Rivers man,” he added.

Also, the state chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria described as “painful and unfortunate” the killing of the politician.

The state ACN, in a statement   by its spokesman, Jerry Needam,  regretted  that “certain elements and devils incarnate might have sworn to check the radical progressive political opposition in the state”.

The party called for an investigation into the killing of  top  politicians in the state.