There was disquiet in Enugu State on Monday after the state Commissioner for Lands, Mr Chidi Aroh, escaped death by a whisker after gunmen attacked him.
Two of his police orderlies, who engaged the hoodlums in a gun battle, were feared dead, as their bodies had yet to be found.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the incident happened on Sunday while Aroh was returning from Anambra, where he attended a meeting.
Police sources claimed that the two policemen were killed when the gunmen ambushed the commissioner.
A source said the gunmen opened fire on his convoy and when the policemen engaged the hoodlums in exchange of gunfire, they were shot dead and their guns taken away.
The source identified the orderlies as Inspector Adabu and Inspector Solomon.
He said, “The gunmen ambushed their Hilux van in a community in Anambra, shot and killed the two policemen. The commissioner was lucky to have escaped in his Jeep because their Hilux van was riddled with bullets.”
The Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, Daniel Ndukwe, referred our correspondent to his Anambra State counterpart.
The spokesman for the Anambra State Police Command, Ikenga Tochukwu, confirmed the attack, adding that it happened along the Ukpo-Nimo Road.
According to a WhatsApp message he sent to our correspondent, the two policemen engaged the gunmen in a gun duel, which led to the escape of the commissioner.
He said, “What happened yesterday (Sunday) is an example of the sacrifice security agents, especially police personnel, pay in providing security services.
“Meanwhile, the police operatives attached to the commissioner of land engaged the gunmen, which made their principal escape with his driver.
“The command, on the receipt of the information, deployed operatives in the area. The whereabouts of the two police personnel is still unknown and operation is still ongoing.”
Tochukwu, however, promised to update our correspondent after getting more details of the incident.
Efforts to reach the commissioner on Monday were unsuccessful as he did not take his calls.
In a related development, gunmen on Sunday shot dead the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ofoma Associates Limited, Chief Gab Ofoma.
The deceased, a native of Umunnealam, Nnewi, Anambra State, was said to have visited his hometown and was returning to his base in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, when he was shot dead.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the incident took place around the Ukpor-Lilu-Orsumoghu-Azia-Mbosi Road, which connects Anambra and Imo states.
An eyewitness said, “Chief Gab Ofoma was gunned down on Sunday. His crime probably was that he was riding in an SUV and looked like a big man.
“Many people have been murdered on that road by these people who kill anybody that is in a big car and looks like a big man.”
The late businessman was a senior estate surveyor and had an estate surveying firm with offices in Port Harcourt, Nnewi, Abuja and Lagos.
The state police spokesman, Tochukwu, said he did not have the information but promised to get back to our correspondent.
As of the time of filing this report, he had yet to do so.
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