A spate of coordinated attacks in southeastern Enugu State on Wednesday resulted in the death of a Nigerian senatorial candidate from one opposition party and the driver of a campaign minibus belonging to another, according to police.

The attacks occurred ahead of the election scheduled for Saturday, and suspected members of two Biafran separatist groups were reportedly responsible. The groups had been banned by Nigerian authorities.

In the simultaneous incidents at separate locations, the attackers targeted vehicles from three political parties, including the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party’s gubernatorial candidate in Enugu, whose attempted attack was repelled.

Police confirmed the death of the Labour Party senatorial candidate Oyibo Chukwu, earlier reported by his party, and also stated that the driver of a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) campaign minibus had been killed in a separate attack.

In both cases, the attackers set vehicles ablaze with petrol bombs, burning their occupants to death.

Despite the country’s switch from army rule to democracy in 1999, Nigeria’s elections have long been plagued by violence and fraud.

In this year’s election, scheduled amidst a backdrop of armed conflict in the northeast, high levels of crime, and shortages of cash, fuel, and electricity, the three-man race to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari is considered to be the most unpredictable in recent Nigerian history.

The former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu, 70, represents the ruling APC, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, 76, represents the main opposition PDP, while the Labour Party’s Peter Obi, 61, is seen as an anti-establishment candidate popular among many young voters.

In response to the attacks, the Enugu State police commissioner, Ahmed Ammani, urged citizens “not to succumb to the cowardly antics of the hoodlums, which is aimed at creating fear and to disrupt the electoral process”.

Chinwuba Ngwu, the Labour Party chairman in the Enugu South local government area, expressed suspicion of political assassination, stating that “we are suspecting political assassination because he is favoured to win the election.”

Human rights groups have claimed that the use of excessive and arbitrary force by Nigerian security forces in the southeast has fuelled violence in the region. Poverty, joblessness, and political marginalization among many Igbo in the region have led to a revival of interest in Biafran separatism in recent years.

The region attempted to secede from Nigeria in 1967 under the name Republic of Biafra, resulting in a three-year civil war in which a million people died, mostly of starvation.

The emergence of groups such as the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the paramilitary Eastern Security Network (ESN) has added to tensions in the region. Both groups are banned.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, stated at a news briefing in Abuja that the public could be confident in the electoral commission’s preparations.

“In this election, we put everything in place for free choice, fair contest, and credible outcome,” he said. A spokesperson for the Enugu branch of INEC noted that the electoral law allows the commission to suspend a poll in the event of a candidate’s death and set a new date within 14 days, but no decision had been made yet in this case.

Additional reporting by Camillus Eboh in Abuja; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by John Stonestreet and Bill Berkrot