By Emeka Okafor
The governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, has absolved the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) in the killing of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s aide, Ahmed Gulak on Sunday.
Uzodinma blamed the killing of the late chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as political.
The governor spoke on Monday at a press conference in Owerri, the state capital, where he faulted allegation by the state police command that the killing perpetrated by members of the outlawed group.
Gulad was reported murdered in Imo on Sunday while heading to Sam Mbakwe Cargo Airport to board a flight to Abuja when the vehicle he was travelling with was ambushed by unknown gunmen few kilometres to the airport.
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The Imo Police Command had blamed members of IPOB, a secessionist group, for the gruesome killing of the politician and lawyer.
But Uzodinma to told journalists at the briefing that Gulak killing was that of a political assassination.
“Alhaji Ahmed Gulak was in Imo State for a national assignment. He came to Owerri with the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendment.
“Being a humble man, he chose to travel incognito according to his friend who was with him. Someone must have trailed him from the hotel to the airport. That is exactly why his gruesome murder appears to be a clear case of political assassination”, the governor said.
He added, “The brutal and callous assassination of Alhaji Ahmed Gulak yesterday, Sunday, May 30th, 2021 on his way to the Sam Mbakwe Cargo Airport, is painful because he did not deserve to die that way.
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“The death of this compatriot is a personal loss to me because he was an invaluable friend and brother whose sense of justice, fairness and uprightness endeared him to me. I was shocked to my marrows when the sad news of his callous murder was broken to me.
“I was getting ready to go to church when the sad news came and I could not attend the service again. It was simply one of the most devastating news I have heard in my life and I am yet to recover from the shock.
“It remains a puzzle to me why anyone would want to murder him in this gruesome and vicious manner.”
If it is not IPOB then we are waiting for Uzodinma to produce the assassins. The Toyota Sienna van they used in killing Gulak was openly displayed by IPOB thugs on the streets of Owerri yesterday while enforcing the stay at home order