Former Governor Chris Ngige recounts convoy attack, says gunmen wore Army and Police uniforms

A former Anambra State Governor and ex-Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, has recounted an attack on his convoy by unidentified gunmen. Ngige said the incident occurred when his personal aides were returning from an errand, resulting in the death of a woman, while his police orderly was shot in the leg and stripped of his rifle and uniform.

He spoke to journalists on Friday when Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, visited him at his country home in Alor, Idemili South Local Government Area, to commiserate over the attack. Ngige explained that he had been in Anambra since Saturday and had sent his aides on errands, including taking one of his vehicles for maintenance, when they were ambushed on their return. Dispelling rumours of his death, he said, “As you can see, I am alive; I am not dead, so there should be no panic. They attacked my convoy while they were returning around Umuoji. They saw some vehicles racing towards them, which later reversed, chased after them, and started shooting.

“The assailants were all dressed in police and army uniforms. My convoy driver managed to manoeuvre until they ran into a shop. They caught up with my police security man who battled with them until his bullets were exhausted. They took away his rifle and uniform after shooting him in the leg.

“They told the two policemen that they were serving a ‘zoo government.’ I think something is in the offing. They are seizing arms and mopping up police uniforms. I have spoken to the governor of the state, who assured me they will be tracked down. If they are not tracked down, it can lead to potential danger and an unravelling of the calmness we have enjoyed in the state for the past three months.

“You know we are entering the Christmas season and our people will be coming home. They need to be tracked down because this is a gang with a modus operandi of operating in police uniforms.” Ngige said the attack might have been targeted because his pilot driver and convoy are well known, but he also acknowledged it could have been coincidental. “My pilot driver is very well known. Anywhere people see him, they know Ngige is around. He has driven me for 22 years. So, on that basis, I may say they knew it was my convoy and decided to attack. On the other hand, it may be that they just saw a convoy with policemen and attacked them to harvest guns and uniforms. So I’m not insisting it was targeted. Anyone who targets me is wasting his time,” he said.

On the attackers’ reference to serving a “zoo government” and the recent tension surrounding the incarceration of Indigenous People of Biafra leader Nnamdi Kanu, Ngige said a political solution was needed. “When they told the security men that they were serving a ‘zoo government’ and should tell their masters they are coming for them, you know what that means. My take is that Nnamdi Kanu’s case requires a political solution. I met former President Muhammadu Buhari over it. Governor Soludo has also said he wants Kanu released to him. But even if they don’t want to release him to us, they can release him to Britain.

“Why I say so is because the symptoms he is exhibiting are bizarre. I am not a psychiatrist, but something is wrong. Even the doctors who conducted the psychiatric evaluation missed something. There is a mania component. In such cases, the court normally discharges the person. This is elementary psychiatry, and I am a medical doctor,” he said.

Peter Obi, who visited Ngige in Alor, thanked God for sparing the former governor’s life and commiserated with the family of the woman who was shot dead while recording the incident.PUNCH Online had earlier reported that unidentified gunmen attacked Ngige’s convoy along the Nkpor–Nnobi Road in Idemili North Local Government Area on Thursday. According to Ngige’s former media aide, Sir Fred Chukwuelobe, Ngige was not in the convoy at the time of the attack.

A policeman in the pilot car was shot, and his gun and uniform were taken by the assailants, reportedly dressed in police and military uniforms. Eyewitnesses said a woman recording the shooting was fatally shot, while a shop owner who rushed out to observe the commotion was also hit but survived and is scheduled for surgery to remove bullets lodged in his body. “No policeman was killed. The escort leader who was shot has been operated upon and is expected to make a full recovery,” an eyewitness said.

Source: https://punchng.com/