Oyo state commissioner for Lands and Housing, Mr Abdu-Raheem Abiodun on Wednesday said it was only by chance that he escaped been shot by some yet to be identified gun men who attacked his official vehicle, in his Olomi-Academy residence, Tuesday night.
But in the attack, two persons including his official driver, Mr Lukman Fabayo and police orderly attached to him, Mr Muritala Atanda were not so lucky as they were hit by the bullets of the gun-men.
While the driver died instantly, the police orderly is currently receiving treatment from the gunshot wounds at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.
But the state Police Commissioner, Shina Olukolu debunked the insinuations that the Commissioner was the target of the attack and that the victims only fell into the trap of criminal gangs operating on bike.
The CP said the Command had launched a manhunt for the assailants and criminal elements who perpetrated the crime.
The victims were said to have been shot at close range by attackers, on a motorcycle, who waylaid them on their way to the state Secretariat after dropping the Commissioner at home.
In a telephone interview while paying another visit to UCH to check on his injured orderly, on Thursday, Abiodun said he had informed the state Commissioner of Police, Shina Olukolu whom he expects to track down those behind the attack.
Narrating how the incident occurred, Abiodun said, “We got home around 8pm and I was just about to settle down when I got a distress call that my driver and orderly were shot while they were on their way with the official vehicle back to state Secretariat.
“The incident occurred just about 20 to 30meters from my own area. By the time I got there, I learnt that some people, three on a bike, waylaid and shot at them at very close range, possibly they thought I was there and or perhaps there was other motives and they shot at them at a very close range, so much so that my driver was hit in the chest region and he died instantly.
“My orderly was hit on his upper arm and that was possibly because he wore bullet proof vest otherwise he could have also been shot at the chest region.
“I don’t know probably they thought I was in the vehicle or they just wanted to rob.”
But the CP while addressing the press at the Commands headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan said the victims only walked into the operations of criminal gang and not actually after the life of the commissioner.
He assured that the police would do all in his capacities to ensure that the criminals are nabbed and made to face the full wrath of the law.
A source who was privy to the incident confirmed that the Commissioner was the one who led a team of sympathisers and concerned citizens who rushed the deceased to the Accident and Emergency Unit of the University College Hospital on Wednesday night.
The source however noted that although, the motive behind this attack could not be yet be ascertained, the assailants after attacking the convoy reportedly took away the gun belonging to the injured police officer.
•Source: The Nation
