Tragedy was on Sunday averted when the convoy of the Labour Party candidate for Saturday’s Governorship election in Imo State, Senator Athan Achonu, escaped death by the whiskers.
Achonu was on his way to St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Obibiezena in Owerri North Local Government Area where he was invited to attend the church’s Synod when his convoy ran into an ambush laid by some Hoodlums, who had mounted a road block with an armoured personnel carrier (APC) with a Political Party branded Sienna and a Hilux truck.
A man said to be a police officer attached to the Tiger Base Police Squad, Owerri, led the team of police men and gun weilding security operatives.
On approaching the road block, police officers in the Armoured Personel Carrier were said to have started shooting at the convoy but missed the Wrangler jeep carrying Achonu by the whiskers but hit the drivers’ window of one of the bullet proof Lexus Jeep in the convoy.
The security men were said to have continued shooting sporadically in full public glare in broad daylight.
It was learnt that even after the Police Commissioner spoke to the police officers over the phone, they refused to listen to him.
A young man identified as ‘TAKPE’, backed by the police was also shouting and threatening that Achonu’s team must turn back else he will “destroy all the cars”. This scenario caused so much panic among the women in the convoy.
To avoid further confrontation, the DSS and other Security Officers accompanying Senator Achonu exercised restraint and moved the candidate and his team to safety.
The Labour Party Governorship candidate has demanded an urgent probe into the activities of the involved culprits, including the State Commissioner of Police. “We also demand that the Chief thug ‘Takpe’ shown in the viral video should be arrested and brought to book” he said.
He called for the immediate transfer of all compromised officers, to avoid crisis.
“We call on President Bola Tinubu, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, the Chief of Army Staff, Head of Department of State Services, DSS, and relevant Security Agencies to weigh into the security situation in Imo State to avert bloodshed during and after Saturday’s election” Achonu maintained.
