ENUGU— Police Corporal, Oliver Omeh and Aloha Olaniyi, the orderly and driver to the slain Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chinwike Asadu, yesterday, narrated how four gunmen attacked them and killed their boss on Saturday night.
They revealed that a man in police uniform was among the four gunmen that attacked the Police Commissioner while driving into his house after dropping a lawyer friend who visited him that fateful evening. The identity of the lawyer was not known at press time.
The two policemen who are now being treated at the NationalOrthopaedicHospital and the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, UNTH, Enugu said the Police Commissioner drove the red coloured Toyota Camry in which they were attacked.
They narrated from their hospital beds that while CP Asadu was driving to his house, a bus overtook them and blocked their car.
The driver, Olaniyi, was in front of the car with the Police Commissioner while the police corporal, Omeh, who was deployed from the Abakpa Police Division to guard the Police Commissioner’s house, was in uniform and at the back seat with his AK47 rifle.
According to the driver, “one of the gunmen ordered the commissioner to get down from the car and as he opened to alight, his orderly in mufti in front with him also opened the door apparently to identify themselves but when the heavily armed assailants saw a policeman in uniform (Omeh) in the car, they suspected that he would shoot them and they immediately opened fire.
Late Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chinwike Asadu
The orderly and the driver revealed that Asadu casually went out that evening to drop the friend and while driving out he only asked the orderly who was with a pistol and the corporal to escort him leaving behind the escort team.
Doctors at the UNTH are still battling to remove the bullets lodged in the body of the police corporal though the doctors said three bullets had already been extracted.
Gov Chime pledges N10m reward
Meanwhile, Governor Sullivan Chime, yesterday, announced a N10 million reward for anybody that would volunteer information that could lead to the arrest of those behind last Saturday’s killing of CP Asadu.
Speaking when he paid a condolence visit to the family of the deceased police commissioner, Governor Chime described the incident as a big embarrassment not only to the police but also the country at large.
Said he: “This is most embarrassing not just to the police, but to the nation. For a senior police officer to be killed in such a manner, to me is quite unfortunate and the state government has decided to take a position on this to show the seriousness of what has happened, it has followed a pattern. What they do now is to follow and kill people with escorts; they kill and collect the guns of their victims. I think it has taken a pattern. So we are paying a ransom of N10 million for anybody that will give us information that will lead to the arrest of the culprits to show the seriousness. It’s quite embarrassing.”
…pledges assistance
While noting that the state would provide all necessary assistance to security agencies in the country to ensure that the killers of CP Asadu were tracked down and brought to book, the governor described the killing as shocking and dastardly, adding that no effort would be spared to fish out the culprits.
He expressed regret that Mr Asadu, who was an indigene of EnuguState, suffered such a cruel fate after many years of dedicated service to the nation, adding that the development was even more disheartening as Asadu was close to retirement from service when he was murdered.
Chime extended his condolences to the Inspector General of Police, the family of the deceased Police Commissioner and the government and people of KwaraState, assuring them that the people of EnuguState shared their grief and outrage over the unfortunate incident.
He further disclosed that his government would be well disposed to assist the family in whichever way to further ameliorate the pains that the killing of the CP would cause them, adding that to also tackle the increasing spate of insecurity in the state, the government has procured police vans which would be handed over in a week’s time.
Responding on behalf of the bereaved family, the first son of the late CP, Onyekachi Asadu, expressed appreciation to the police command in the state, the governor and the nation at large for the outpouring of emotions to the family since the incident happened.
Police on red alert
The police in Enugu on their part said they had placed a red alert on all divisions in the state with a view to rounding up killers. The state police spokesman, Ebere Amarizu, who disclosed this, yesterday, assured that the command was on top of the situation, stating that no arrest had been made in connection with the murder for now. He said a stop-and-search operation had commenced in all the divisions of the state.
Nsukka Professionals, others task IG
In their reaction, Nsukka Professionals in Lagos called on the Inspector-General of Police to use his good offices and ensure that no stone was left unturned in fishing out killers of the police boss.
According the group, “Chinwike Asadu was too gentle, amiable, humane and kind-hearted to be so gruesomely murdered. The killers have certainly incurred God’s anger and they must pay for it.”
In their reaction, Adada Media Forum, a group of journalists from the state based in Lagos said it was time the issue of killings in Enugu was squarely addressed by security agencies.
The group said in a statement, yesterday, that the situation called for sterner security measures on the part of the police to be able to checkmate the rising spate of crime in the state.
A socio-cultural organisation in Nsukka where the slain police boss hailed from, Odenigbo General Assembly, in its reaction, said perpetrators of the crime must be fished out and punished accordingly to restore hope in security agencies in the state.
President of the Assembly, John Coach Ezema, said in a release that it was worrisome that many lives had been lost in recent times in the state without positive steps being taken to apprehend those that carried out the killings.
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