Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State has claimed that the assassination of a former political aide to Goodluck Jonathan, Ahmed Gulak, as ‘Political’.
Naija News had reported how Gulak was killed in the early hours of Sunday shortly after he left his hotel and was said to heading to the Sam Mbakwe airport to connect with a flight back to his destination.
Reports also have it that the Imo state police command had confirmed the incident and insisted that late Gulak had failed to inform the police he was leaving for the airport before the sad incident occurred.
Speaking to newsmen on Monday, Uzodinma described Gulak as a close friend and some dear to him.
He said: “I sympathize with the families of those who lost their lives through stray bullets during this period. As you know, the death of anyone diminishes mankind. But 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.
“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.”
“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.”
“According to reports by the police, he was shot in cold blood and the assailants did not remove a pin from him. It is most benumbing that people chose to waste such an innocent blood in such a dastardly and cowardly manner.”
Meanwhile, the Imo State governor also dismissed reports that his convoy was never attacked.
Reports had emerged on Monday that Uzodinma on Sunday escaped death as his convoy came under heavy shooting by unknown gunmen.
Security operatives attached to the governor’s convoy allegedly engaged the unknown gunmen in a duel.
But the governor has now come out to deny those reports, stressing that those who killed Gulak had also wished he was attacked.
“Finally, let me also clarify the story trending on the social media platforms, that my convoy was attacked, my convoy was never attacked. That is the wish of those who murdered Gulak,” Uzodinma said.
The article was originally published on Nigeria News