Kwara CP shot dead in Enugu

Gunmen on Saturday night struck at the Enugu residence of the Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chinwike Asadu, killing him instantly.

The police orderly to the slain CP, Aloha Olaniyi and driver, Oliver Omeh, who were with him, were also injured in the attack.

They sustained  bullet wounds  and are currently receiving treatment at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu.

The incident occurred at Amorji Nike, near the densely populated Abakpa  Nike area in Enugu East Local Government Area within the state capital at about 10.00 p.m.

The Police Commissioner, who reportedly visited his home in Enugu at the weekend, was driving into his private residence when the assailants, who  may have laid an ambush, attacked him and his aides about 100 metres from his house.

Asadu, according to sources, had seem off a visitor. His driver and a police orderly posted to guard his residence from Abakpa Police Division, accompanied him leaving behind the official escort team that came with him from Kwara State Police Command.

They were on their way back when they suddenly noticed a bus trailing them. As they branched into their street the gunmen fired at the vehicle from the rear.

The gunmen were said to have shot sporadically killing the CP and wounding the two policemen but before they escaped, they reportedly took away the rifle of the orderly whose body was riddled with bullets.

The orderly was shot in the chest, stomach, hands and leg while the driver was shot in the legs.

“The gunmen ran away  in their bus before the CP’s escort team  that was inside his compound noticed what was happening.  When the escort team and sympathisers rushed to the scene, they met CP Asadu and his orderlies in a pool of blood.  They were rushed to the National Orthopaedic Hospital where doctors confirmed the CP dead.  The other two policemen are on admission at the hospital,” a source said.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Ebere Amaraizu confirmed the incident on Sunday, describing the attack as “very unfortunate.”

He said that the CP was on a private visit to his home in Enugu when the incident occurred.

According to him, the police would do everything possible to fish out the assailants as investigations into the bizarre incident have already commenced.

The new Police Commissioner in Enugu State, Mr Tonye Ebitibituwa, was said to have directed his men to conduct a manhunt for the gunmen within and outside the state capital in order to track them down without delay.

Meanwhile, doctors at the National Orthopeadic Hospital, Enugu are battling to save the lives of the two wounded police officers.  The orderly who was seriously battered by bullets, according to doctors, was said to be in a stable condition after the surgeries conducted on him throughout Saturday night.  The driver was also said to be in a stable condition.

Asadu, who was among newly appointed Police Commissioners for various state commands. Last week, he embarked on familiarisation visit during which he met with journalists at the correspondent’s chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists  in Ilorin.

Also reacting to the tragedy, the former chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and 0ther Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Mustapha Akanbi, described the incident as terrible and uncalled for.

“It showed that no one is  really secure in Nigeria as of today. If a chief security officer of a state can be murdered in cold blood like that in his country home, then, we are in the state of tension,” he said.

Justice Akanbi also said that it was high time the security agencies braced up for the state of insecurity in the country before it became unbearable.

Also reacting, the senator representing Kwara Central senatorial district, Dr Bukola Saraki, who spoke through one of  his media aides, Mr Akintoba Fatigun, described the murder of the state police boss as barbaric and callous.

Saraki, however, called on the police authorities to fish out the killers.

In his reaction, the speaker of state House of Assembly, Honourable Abdulrazaq Atunwa, described the incident as shocking and wicked.

The speaker called on the Inspector-General of Police  to unravel the killing.

Culled from Nigerian Tribune