*Arsonists set fire to Imo Police station as insecurity heightens.
Ikedi Ohakim, ex-governor of Imo state.
Former governor of Imo state, Ikedi Ohakim, on Tuesday disclosed that his bulletproof vehicle and his driver saved him during an attack on his convoy by gunmen at Ehime Mbano Local Government area of the state on Monday.
Narrating the incident, Ohakim said his attackers were professionals and not amateurs and they killed four Police officers in his convoy.
“We were driving between Isiala Mbano and Ehime Mbano. These people blocked us at a place called Umualumaku.
“They attacked us from behind and were firing at our vehicles consistently. I thought I was a dead man and I was with two of my children – my son and daughter.
“What saved me was the bulletproof vehicle. That I am alive today is by the special grace of God and the bulletproof vehicle.
“But unfortunately for me, they killed four of our boys, including the driver. Yes, we lost four of the boys and I am devastated. How can that be? What crime did they commit?”
“They pursued us and continued firing at our tyres. Luckily, the vehicle has what is called run-flat tyres on which you can continue driving even after a puncture.
"So even when they shot at the tyres hoping to immobilize us, the vehicle continued moving. If they were ordinary tyres and the vehicle had stopped, they would have cornered and finished us.
“But the tyres held on until we got back home. We drove for about 20 minutes before we got home. That was the saving grace.”
“The driver who manifested a tremendous level of driving skill kept maneuvering until he lost them at a junction when he went right; and not knowing where we had gone, they headed the other direction on the road to Umuahia.
“We then turned and went back to my house. We were there when Imo Government House sent reinforcement from Owerri who brought the corpses of my security people.”
Ohakim said the attackers were out to kill him.
“This goes beyond the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), I must say. These are professionals, well-trained. They are not ordinary people. They were driving a blue color BMW 5-series car, brand new. They came to kill me.”
“I don't know what this is all about. It is becoming terrible. Won’t people come home again? Are we going to stay in Owerri and Abuja permanently without coming back to our communities?” the former governor wondered.
Reacting earlier to the persistent destruction of lives and properties in Imo state, IPOB in a statement on Sunday said, "We find what is happening very distasteful and distressing. Imo people are dying every day and night under the supervision of Hope Uzodinma."
In the statement signed by IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, the group blamed politicians for contributing to the insecurity in Imo State, "because of the political fighting and power struggle" arising from the emergence of Hope Uzodinma as Governor of the state.
IPOB lamented that its detractors are exploiting the rivalry between the politicians to blackmail it to draw the people's anger against the group.
It called on the concerned politicians in Imo state " to stop their power tussle to avoid spreading sponsored insecurity to other states in Biafraland."
Police station, set on fire.
Meanwhile, the Afor Atta divisional police headquarters in the Njaba Local, Government Area of Imo state was on Monday evening set ablaze by yet-to-be-be-identified arsonists.
This came shortly after the assassination attempt on Ikedi Ohakim, the former governor of Imo state during which four of his police orderlies were killed.
According to OkeomaNews, a community source disclosed that the attackers threw explosives into the premises of the Police facility, setting it on fire.
No police officer was on duty during the incident.
The source said” the police station in my community has been burnt. It was burnt last night. Nobody could come out because of fear. As we speak the area is deserted.”
The Afor Atta divisional police station was earlier vandalized in June 2021 after two courts beside it were set ablaze.
Police have yet to react to the development.
Crime. Politics and Opinion.
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