Leadership (Abuja)
Oliver Ndife
23 July 2008
Abia State Governor, Dr Theodore Ahamefule Orji, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt on his life by men suspected to be hired killers.
The suspected assassins numbering over 20 had laid ambush for the governor's convoy at Ngwaiyiekwe town in Ugwagbo Local Government Area along the Aba-Port-Harcourt expressway as early as 6:15am and on sighting the convoy opened fire on them.
The convoy was heading to Port-Harcourt to convey the governor's wife who had just returned from a two-week holiday abroad.
Eyewitness accounts said the assassins, after 25 minutes of exchange of fire power, overpowered the security men who scampered into a nearby bush for safety of their life.
The eyewitness further said after the shoot-out, the suspected killers rained bullets on the official vehicle of the governor hoping that he was in the car. And after realizing that he was not in the vehicle, they made away with his official backup Jeep and one other bus, which they later abandoned about 32 kilometers from the scene of the incident.
It was gathered that a bus conductor was shot dead by the gunmen while another passer-by was shot on the arm during the exchange of fire.
Reacting to the incident, Orji described the attack on his convoy as an attempt by the opposition to eliminate him.
He wondered why the attackers shot at all the vehicles in the convoy if they were not bent on killing him.
The governor said security reports at his disposal indicated that the plan to assassinate him had been on for long by the opposition who do not want to wait for the Court of Appeal to vacate the election petition on the governorship seat of the state.
Orji restated that he has a divine mandate and urged his supporters to have confidence in his government.
He asserted that the plans of the enemy will come to nothing, adding that everybody will be rewarded for his activities.
Also reacting to the coincident, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Deacon Ralph Egbu, said the people of the state felt sad at the development and those engaged in the murderous attempt does love his state and the country.
Egbu said that nobody can destroy the government in the state except God, and he can not do this to a man he has given a divine mandate to rule the state in the person of the governor.
Meanwhile, the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State condemned in its entirety the attempt by Governor Orji to link the opposition in the state with the shooting at his convoy.
In a statement signed by the Publicity Secretary of the state chapter of the party, Mr Henry Agbaeze, the PDP said it had absolutely nothing to do with it and we condemn this violent act without reservations. Violence is not our way of doing politics. We believe in the rule of law and which is why the Almighty God is giving us victory after victory in the law courts over our stolen mandates.
"We warned that unless the Inspector- General of Police acted fast the situation could degenerate into anarchy.
It also criticised the governor over his inability to safeguard life and property in the state.
"We also remember that the Inspector-General of Police promptly responded to our SOS by despatching an additional MOPOL squadron to Abia State after observing in a well publicised interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that "some of the kidnappers take off from Aba to operate in Port Harcourt and return to Aba after their raid.
"We have been warning about insecurity in the state and all of us should feel threatened if the governor of our state can be targeted by hoodlums. But we also know that this government has long associated with cultists and is covering up known criminals.
"We are also aware that the in-fighting in PPA has degenerated dangerously with supporters of TA Orji ranged against the supporters of former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu and his mother for supremacy."
One of the national dailies last Saturday exposed the in-fighting and gave gory details of how they are now at each other's throat.
"At the centre of their disagreement is the sharing of local government allocations from the federation account.
"Orji Kalu's mother, Mrs Eunice Kalu, is still controlling the allocations due the 17 LG councils in Abia state and taking away all the money while TA Orji's people are becoming increasingly bold in challenging her.
"The PPA is boasting that the Court of Appeal will order a new election in Abia and the Kalus are anxious to ensure that Mascot is in position before the ruling.
"It is also curious that the attackers managed to isolate which vehicles were carrying the huge amount of money being moved to Port Harcourt by the state government and drove them away with the cash. Reports indicate that one of the vehicles has been recovered and we hope this will give further clue into how this insider job was executed and by which faction of the ruling government."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
