The Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has visited the families of the policemen who were attacked in Aba by unknown gunmen and commiserated with them over the unfortunate incident.
Four policemen on duty were attacked at the Opobo Junction in the Ogbor Hill axis of Aba, last Friday evening. While two of them were killed, two others were wounded.
Speaking to journalists after the visit to the families of the victims and hospitals where the two wounded police officers were receiving treatment, Otti described the incident as unfortunate.
While regretting that the attack was coming few weeks after a similar incident that involved soldiers at the same Ogbor Hill area, Otti, assuring there would be a change in strategy to deal with the situation, vowed that his government would fish out the perpetrators of the dastardly act.
“We thought that with all that we have done, including rounding up some of the people that were involved in that last attack that this would not happen again. We have decided to change our strategy. We do not want to speculate, but like you (journalist) rightly asked, it is reasonable to suspect that the enemies of the state, particularly those who don’t seem to see any good or want any good for Abia people, may be, somehow, connected to this. That’s a suspicion. We are not going to let this go away without identifying and bringing to book all those who are directly or remotely involved.” Otti added.
Governor Otti said he believes that by the time investigations are over and all the intelligence that is being gathered are put together; the government would know actually where the attacks are coming from. He emphasised that his government would not succumb to the blackmail.
“We believe that something is wrong and our government is not going to succumb to this kind of blackmail, and we are going to fish them out wherever they run to. It is still early days but, like I said, we’ve started picking up some of the people that were suspected to be involved in the last attack on soldiers; and, this one, we are not going to allow it to die.
We are going to follow it through”, Otti assured.
The governor commiserated with the state Commissioner of Police and the Inspector General of Police, reassuring security agencies in the state that the state government was behind them, equally reassured the people of the state that his administration was equal to the task and urged them to go about their lawful businesses. Otti awarded scholarships, up to the university level, to all the children of the two slain officers and assured them that the Abia State government will be supporting the families for their upkeep.
