The personal driver of Kingsley Ikoro, the majority leader of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, has recounted how gunmen attacked and killed two police operatives in Imo State.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that some gunmen, on Sunday, attacked and killed two police operatives along Okigwe Axis in Okigwe Local Government Area of the state.
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The slain operatives were attached to Mr Ikoro, the Ebonyi lawmaker.
The police in Imo State have confirmed the incident and also launched an operation to track down the killers.
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How it happened
The driver, simply identified as Nneoma, told reporters in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, that he, the lawmaker and one other person were present during the attack.
Mr Nneoma said the slain police officers were in one of the two convoy vehicles returning to the Abakaliki after attending a burial in Imo State.
He said on approaching Okigwe Junction, the lawmaker’s BMW utility vehicle broke down, prompting them to park the vehicle to find out what was wrong with it.
The lawmaker was driving himself, according to him.
The driver recalled that while they were checking the vehicle, a young man came to them and offered to fix the vehicle after claiming to be a mechanic.
But Mr Ikoro, the lawmaker, was reluctant to allow him to repair the car, according to him.
Mr Nneoma said, at the time, the police operatives who were with him in the second vehicle, a Nivara truck, remained inside the vehicle.
He said the lawmaker then requested the supposed mechanic to get a towing van to move the vehicle which he obliged.
The driver narrated that, at that point, he and others began to transfer their luggage from the BMW car to the truck.
“Not quite long, a young man wearing a jeans knicker with AK-47 rifle came to me and started asking me of the policemen with me but I quickly replied that there are no policemen with me.
“Immediately, he opened the door of the truck and opened fire on the police officers that were still seated inside the truck. On seeing what was happening, all of us scampered for safety,” he narrated.
Mr Nneoma said some soldiers later arrived at the scene of the incident which appeared to give some fleeing residents a sense of safety.
“Some people started coming out from their hiding places. It was then that we observed that the policemen were killed.
“They (police operatives) were shot while inside the vehicle. At no point did we abandon them at the scene and entered another vehicle and left,” he said.
The driver expressed sadness over the incident, adding that they had already reported it to the police headquarters in Ebonyi.
When contacted, the police spokesperson in Ebonyi State, Joshua Ukandu, said the police in the state were aware of the incident.
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Mr Ukandu, a superintendent of police, however, declined to give details because the attack happened in Imo State which is outside his jurisdiction.
Increased attacks
No group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack.
However, the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been linked to some deadly attacks in the South-east, which has witnessed increased attacks in recent times.
But the separatist group has repeatedly denied its involvement in the attacks.
IPOB is leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the south-east and some parts of the south-south Nigeria.
