BENIN—A senatorial candidate for Edo South senatorial district on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Matthew Urhoghide, yesterday raised alarm over an attempt on his life on Sunday night by unknown persons.

He also fingered supporters of his opponents in the senatorial race as people responsible for the alleged attack.

He said the matter has been reported at Aduwawa police station in Benin City, the state capital.

Speaking with newsmen, Urhoghide, a pharmacist, said:   “At about 7:00 pm last night (Sunday), I was heading towards Urhorha community in Eyean to meet a group of people who wanted to receive me. On my way, at Aduwawa area, near the Big Joe motors, there was a traffic jam as a result of an accident.

“My convoy, consisting of my car and three campaign branded buses, were right behind me. When we saw the traffic jam, we decided to turn. Turning, we noticed that lot of people were running around as there was commotion.

“I saw some boys and cars pursuing my car. They were trying to get to my car but one of my buses blocked them. They came out of a vehicle and tried to get inside one of the buses in my convoy.

“They hit the front windscreen, the back windscreen and attempted to use their vehicle, a green Mercedes C-Class without number plates to hit my personal vehicle. As one of the buses in my convoy was trying to block them, they used cutlass to hit the bus.

“They used the cutlass to damage the rear light as well. Another vehicle, a black Camry car, pursued my vehicle from Aduwawa to Ring Road. That one also had its number plates covered.

“The two vehicles who pursued me actually meant harm. If not for the buses that blocked them, they would have probably got to my car. This, to me, looked like an assassination attempt on my life.”

Urhoghide, who showed newsmen his damaged campaign buses, described the attack as a vicious one by his opponents.

He recalled that on January 21, 2014, some thugs living in the house of a chieftain of the APC pounced on his boys, who were pasting his campaign posters around Etete Road area of Benin GRA.

However, in a swift reaction,a senior member of the opponents’ campaign organisation (names withheld) described the allegations as spurious and unfounded.