BY FESTUS AHON

_UGHELLI—A middle-aged man, Mr. Sunny Okonye, who was allegedly shot by suspected political hoodlums in Boji-Boji-Agbor, Ika South Local Area, Delta State, over his alleged involvement in the burning down of a campaign billboard, has said he was coerced to implicate Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and his aides in the shooting.

Okonye, who made the clarification when he addressed newsmen, accused a political chieftain in the council (name withheld), of footing his medical bills with promises of funds, empowerment and other sundry gratification and coerced him to falsify his oral and written statements to the police. 

The victim, who wore bandages on his left arm, said that none of Okowa’s aides was present at the time of the incident, reiterating that he was forced to implicate Senator Okowa in a bid to dent his political records ahead of the 2015 governorship election in the state.

Explaining that the political chieftain asked him to claim that his shooting was in connection with the alleged burning down of Senator Okowa’s 2015 governorship campaign billboard at the College of Education Junction in Agbor, he said his earlier statements were made after promises of political and economic empowerment were made to him.

It will be recalled that friends of Senator Okowa had described the allegation as the handiwork of mischief makers, who were out to soil Okowa’s name because of his gubernatorial ambition.