The Anambra State Police Command on Monday confirmed that five persons, including two policemen and three civilians, were killed when gunmen attacked the convoy of the senator representing Anambra South, Ifeanyi Ubah, on Sunday.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in an interview with The PUNCH.

The PUNCH reported that Ubah’s convoy was attacked by gunmen in Enugwu-Ukwu, Njikoka Local Government Area of the state on Sunday while returning to his home town, Nnewi.

One of our correspondents however gathered that no arrest had been made.

Apart from the five persons killed, the police spokesperson added that two policemen, who were injured, are currently receiving treatment.

“Two policemen and three civilians were killed in the attack while the two injured police officers are currently receiving treatment.

“No arrest has been made yet as we are still exploring every avenue to unravel the perpetrators of the attack. Further details will be communicated as development unfolds,” Ikenga said.

Meanwhile, a source identified some of the victims of the attack, saying, “Senator Ifeanyi Ubah lost his treasurer, Mr Ikechukwu Odum, who is his most trusted aide. He also lost his personal assistant, Mr Goodness Mathias.

“Another man killed, who was not in the convoy of the Senator, was identified as Onowu Agu-Ukwu Nri. He is said to be a titled chief in the neighbouring Nri community and had just driven to Enugwu-Ukwu to drop someone who visited him, who would be travelling to Lagos this morning, and he was unlucky to be at that point at the time when Senator Ubah was attacked.

“He was driving an SUV, so the assassins may have thought he was in the senator’s convoy, and he was gunned down.

“During the confusion on Sunday, all the cars were just hitting one another. Since the vehicle the senator was driving in was bulletproof, his driver managed to manoeuvre out of the damaged cars and drive away, even as it was being shot at.”

Senator’s aide

All efforts made to speak to Ubah proved abortive as his telephone line did not connect.

But the senator’s Media Assistant, Mr Kameh Ogbonna, said if not for the bulletproof SUV, his principal would have been killed by the assailants’ bullets.

“If not for the bulletproof SUV the senator was riding in, he would have been dead by now. We were passing Enugwu Ukwu junction when they hit us from all sides,” he said.

Outrage over attack

The Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo; a former governor of the state, Mr Peter Obi; the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have condemned the attack.

While condemning the attack, Soludo, through a press statement by his media aide, said the government was fully determined to wipe out every act of criminality in the state, noting, “This is the last-ditch effort of a sinking boat by these criminal elements.”

Obi, on his part, said the attack was “unfortunate and condemnable”, describing it as one of the “cumulative” effects of bad leadership over the years.

The state Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Okelo Madukaife, commiserated with the senator and families of his aides who lost their lives as well as the state Commissioner of Police.

Apex socio-political youth organisation in Igbo land, the Coalition of South-East Youth Leaders, also condemned the attack.