Chairman of Rivers State chapter of All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP,
Elder Julius Nwaofu, has been assassinated. He was murdered about 8.30 pm, on
Tuesday along Port Harcourt International Airport Road, in Ikwerre Local
Government Area of the state. The late politician was said to have been picked from the airport by his wife, when the bandits intercepted his vehicle and shot him near Gitto flyover, linking the Port Harcourt Airport, in the presence of his wife. The son of the late ANPP chairman, Caleb Nwaofu, a lawyer, confirmed the murder of his father. He said he suspected that his father was assassinated.
Although, it was not clear if the assassination was politically motivated, but the legal practitioner disclosed that his father’s killers’ also made away with undisclosed sum of money. According to him, the gunmen did not hurt his mother who was also in the car when the incident occurred.
He could not determine if his father had problems with anyone, but said his father had been receiving some threat messages from persons he described as his (Nwaofu’s) business associates. When contacted, the Rivers State Police command’s spokesman, Mr. Ben Ugwuegbulam confirmed the killing, saying he could not ascertain if the late ANPP boss was the state chairman of the opposition party.
Ugwuegbulam said: “I know of the death of one Elder Julius Nwaofu, but I don’t know if he is the Chairman of the ANPP.” He said the incident is being investigated. Meanwhile, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN has condemned the murder of the State ANPP chairman and called for full-scale investigation into the incident. In a statement in Port Harcourt yesterday, Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Jerry Needam, described as painful and unfortunate the brutal murder of the State Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Elder Julius Nwaofu in Port Harcourt.
“The ACN condemned in strong terms the rising rate of insecurity in the state. This development is a drawback on the progressive march of the state to catch up with other civilized parts of the world. “It has therefore become highly imperative to probe the remote cause of the seeming selective elimination of frontline politicians in the state.