The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has voiced worry about the assassination of one of its members, Sunday Oputu, in Bayelsa State, as well as the increasing number of killings across the country.
Prof. Rufai Alkali, the chairman of the Nigerian National People's Party (NNPP), said in a statement that the assassination bears the hallmarks of a politically motivated act, adding that it has the potential to erode people's faith in the Nigerian state's ability to protect their lives and property across the country.
According to the statement, the NNPP's Bayelsa State Chairman, Dr. Joel Tubonimi, informed the party's national secretariat of the occurrence and claimed that the matter had been reported to the police.Before
joining the NNPP, Oputu served as chairman of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties and Inter-Party Advisory Council in Bayelsa State.
The deceased, who was assassinated in his home in Yenagoa, the state capital, was a factional State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress before joining the party, according to the statement.
As a result, the party sought justice for both the deceased and the family he left behind, as well as condemned Nigeria's escalating insecurity.
"We learned with horror of the death of one of our active members in Bayelsa state, the late Sunday Oputu," the statement added. Unfortunately, his assassination by unidentified gunmen was not an unusual incident.
Nigerians are losing their lives on a daily basis to bandits, terrorists, and other extrajudicial tactics, according to the party, to the point where people are beginning to wonder if the country really has a government.
The party urged its members, particularly those in Bayelsa, to remain calm and not take matters into their own hands, while also calling for urgent action from the security services.
The party stated that the assassination should be investigated and the perpetrators prosecuted.
It asked God for the strength to endure the loss of those left to grieve for their departed colleague, as well as for the soul's repose.