The chief executive of Enugu state’s Isi-Uzo local government area, Obiora Obeagu, escaped being lynched by youths from his village on Saturday.
The president and an unidentified woman were nearly mugged after their alleged attempt to buy votes at his voting unit while voting was underway in the gubernatorial and House of Assembly races.
Obeagu and the Enugu State Labor Party gubernatorial candidate, the Hon. Chijioke Edeoga are from the same Eha-Amufu in the Isi-Uzo local government area.
An eyewitness told reporters who were in the area to monitor the election that the president, a woman, and another person allegedly came to the voting unit with money to induce voters to vote for the Zenith Labor Party (ZLP) instead of Labor Party (LP).
The eyewitness narrated that: “This morning, the President of the Isi-Uzo Local Government Area, Hon. Obeagu came to this Voting Unit and called some people aside and started giving them money to vote ZLP.
“Their intentions were to suppress the votes that LP gubernatorial candidate Chijioke Edeoga should get in Isi-Uzo. Thank God for the prompt intervention of the soldiers.
“He came with a lady and another man. They were telling people to vote for the last logo on the ballot with human beings. This really fooled some of the villagers.
“Then, the young people around noticed what was happening and chased him away. We also noticed that the lady was doing the same thing. And the young men beat the lady, along with the man.
“It was the military there who had to save the lady and the man from being beaten to the point of being stupefied by the already angry young people. They were arrested by the soldiers, but were later released and asked to leave the voting unit.”
He added that timely intervention by soldiers was necessary to save Council President Obeagu from the hands of angry youths.
Later, the police took him away from the polling place.
When approached, Obeagu, who avoided reacting to the incident, told reporters that he was already facing a lot of trouble in the area and was unable to speak.
Earlier, about 30 armed thugs were arrested in various parts of Isi-Uzo early Saturday morning.
