Alaba Abbey, a campaign coordinator of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo state, has been brutally murdered by gunmen, Peoples Gazette just learnt. 

Mr Abbey, who served as a ward coordinator for the Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organization Foot-Soldiers (LACO-SF), was killed in his hometown of Supare Akoko, Akoko South West Local Government Area, on Saturday. 

The Gazette learnt that the deceased was the returning officer for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in his Ward 10 in the recently concluded primary of the governing party. 

Samuel Abbey, a younger brother to the deceased, who confirmed the sad development, said that the local politician was shot at the front of his house in Supare, and the family believed it was an assassination. 

“It is a sad development, my brother was assassinated in front of his house here in Supare. Our family are in pain right now,” he said.  

Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, the spokesperson for the police in Ondo, confirmed the killing of Mr Abbey in a brief chat with reporters in Akure, on Sunday. 

Mrs Odunlami-Omisanya revealed that the state command had launched an investigation into the brutal killings. 

“We have begun an investigation into the case and we will unravel what led to his killing,” she said. 

Meanwhile, the Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organisation Foot-Soldiers (LACO-SF) has condemned Mr Abbey’s brutal killing.  

The group also called on police authorities in the state to protect its members from brutal attacks by assailants.

In a statement by the spokesperson for the campaign organisation, Kayode Fasua said the late Abbey was actively involved in the campaign activities of Mr Aiyedatiwa until his brutal killing. 

Earlier, the Director-General of LACO-FS in Akoko Southwest Local Government, David Ajobiewe, described the killing of Mr Abbey as a big tragedy.

“Excel had been a resourceful coordinator for the Aiyedatiwa campaign organisation in Ward 10 of Supare and was never known to be violent and never had any history of a local or domestic dispute.

“We urge the police authorities to step up investigations into his gruesome murder and bring the perpetrators of the dastardly act to book,” he said.