Assassination Attempt on Okorocha’s Convoy Claims the Life of a Brave Police Officer.
Gunmen attacked the convoy of former Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha, killing a police officer.
The former governor’s convoy was attacked on the Okigwe-Enugu motorway near the Ihube community on Friday.
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Terrorists had been attacking the expressway’s Ihube axis, killing and kidnapping people and travellers for ransom.
Several politicians’ homes in the community had previously been raided. Many locals had fled their homes and sought refuge in the state capital, Owerri, and other locations.
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Confirming the killing of the police officer and the attempted assassination, Okorocha expressed regret that his convoy could be attacked.
Okorocha, who ruled the state from 2011 to 2019, claimed that the officer killed was one of those dispatched from the state Government House to accompany him to the funeral of the mother of Imo state’s immediate past governor, Emeka Ihedioha.
Okorocha, speaking on Sunday at Amaimo in the state’s Ikeduru Local Government Area, at the birthday anniversary celebration of the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate for the November 11 governorship election in Imo state, Samuel Anyanwu, described the cop’s death as “unfortunate.”
The former governor stated that his convoy was attacked while returning from Enugu after attending the burial ceremony of the wife of a former Senate President, Ken Nnamani.
Okorocha stated that the governor of Enugu state, Peter Mbah, had released vehicles and security personnel to transport him and his team to Imo state for Ihedioha’s mother’s burial.
He revealed that they were attacked after he had finished attending the funeral ceremony in Mbaise and the convey had dropped him off at his Spilbat mansion in Owerri on his way back to Enugu.
He also expressed resentment for being safe in Enugu only to be attacked and a security agent killed in his own state.
“I am angry,” he said. I am extremely enraged. I am angry because I spent two days in Enugu and nothing happened to me, but it was in my own state that the convoy released to me by the governor of Enugu state (a very good man) to attend Ihedioha’s mother’s burial ceremony at Mbaise was attacked and one policeman was killed.
“What is happening in Imo state enrages me.” Many of those running for governor of Imo state are unqualified, but I have seen one man who fits the bill. I will speak when the time comes.”
Bullets shattered the vehicles in the convoy, which included a Sports Utility Vehicle, a bus, and a Hilux, according to one of the former governor’s aides who spoke to our correspondent in confidence.
He claimed that two other security agents were kidnapped by the attackers and released the next day.