Many people were reportedly injured as armed thugs opened fire on the convoy of Senator Monday Okpebholo, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, and Phillip Shaibu, the former Deputy Governor of Edo State at the Benin Airport on Thursday.

The incident occurred around 2 pm as the duo arrived from Abuja aboard a chartered private jet.

Eyewitnesses reported that the unknown gunmen, travelling in a Toyota Sienna bus, positioned themselves at the airport’s exit gate and unleashed bullets on the convoy carrying Okpebholo and Shaibu.

In reaction, the security details attached to the APC candidate and Shaibu retaliated with gunfire.

Reports have it that businesses in the area hastily closed, and drivers abandoned their vehicles to escape the crossfire.

The situation was however brought under control by the timely intervention of the Nigeria Police mobile squad, who fired shots that forced the attackers to flee in their vehicle.

This incident comes on the heels of a Federal Court ruling in Abuja, which reinstated Shaibu as the Deputy Governor and ordered the Inspector General of Police to restore his security details. The court’s decision nullified Shaibu’s impeachment by the Edo State House of Assembly.

Meanwhile, men from the Edo State Security Network took over the office of the state’s deputy governor, Marvellous Omobayo, located at Osadebey Avenue in the Government Reservation Area.

Earlier, Shaibu had instructed a large crowd of youths to join his convoy to the office.