Ward 5 Councillor in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, Hon Jude Adjekpogu has died 13 days after he was shot by gunmen.
Adjekpogu was on Saturday, December 4, 2021, admitted into an undisclosed private hospital, after he was hit by several bullets fired at him while driving in his car by gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen on the busy Eku-Abraka road in the state.
Chairman, Ethiope East Local Government, Hon Victor Ofobrukueta, who confirmed the development in a phone chat with NewsNet Nigeria said Adjekpogu passed on in the early hours of today Thursday after two surgeries were carried out on him.
Ofobrukueta said, “They’ve done two operations for him because the gunshots affected his spinal cord, the kidney and intestine.”
Former member of the House of Representatives for Ethiope Federal Constituency, Hon Lovette Idisi, who hails from the same Ward 5, told NewsNet Nigeria that “It is a big blow to me personally, having been the first Councillor I produced in the Ward. Besides the fact that he was my Councillor, he was also my brother and my friend.
“When this incident happen, I think I was the first person he called that he was shot, and I spoke with the person carrying him as they were rushing him to the hospital. And we have been doing everything possible to try and assist him while in the hospital…, but his situation after the first surgery was not yielding prospects so we decided to reach out…, when the medical bills got close to Three Million naira since it was getting heavy for us to bear on our own. Unfortunately, we lost him this morning.
“What I want to take out of this is that Ethiope East as a whole and the party in the Ethiope East should unite themselves because for a situation after 13 days in the local government besides the effort of the Council Chairman, the party itself was visibly absent in rallying round our own Councillor. And if this is not a lesson for the entire Ethiope East to begin to see why this kind of dividedness and politics of stand-alone or do it your own, we will continue to suffer in the local government.
“Until we begin to realise that we are all one, we are a family; what touches one, touches all. If we think that if it touches that person it doesn’t touch me, it is just a matter of time, it will get to your doorstep. The local government should harness themselves politically, brotherly, spiritually and otherwise.”
