Delta State governor Ifeanyi Okowa, has commiserated with the Delta Police Command and families of police officers killed by gunmen in Anambra. The State Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, who briefed newsmen on the issue on Saturday in Asaba, said the officers were ambushed and killed around 1.30p.m on Friday on Ihiala-Orlu Road enroute Umuahia while on official duty. He gave the names of the killed officers as Inspectors Lucky Aleh; Celestine Nwadiokwu and Jude Obuh who were attached to the Explosives Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Unit in Government House, Asaba. Aniagwu described the unfortunate killing of the officers as barbaric and unacceptable in a country seeking to be united again for peace and development. “We bring you the sad news of our very gallant officers who have helped us in maintaining peace in our state attached to the Explosives Ordnance Disposal EOD Unit in Government House, Asaba. “The officers met their untimely death while they were proceeding as an advanced team for the PDP National Campaign Rally in Abia. “Unfortunately this particular team veered off from the convoy and took another route different from where the convoy was taking. “They were ambushed along the Ihiala-Orlu Road enroute Umuahia by non-state actors who eventually killed three of them in police uniform while the one on mufti escaped. “We have recovered their corpse and we have also reached out to their families,” he said. He said that some accounts of the unfortunate incident trending on social media were untrue.
He said that the state government delayed announcing their untimely death because efforts were being made to reach out to their families before making the announcement. Aniagwu called on security agencies in the country to fish out the killers and bring them to book so that Nigerians can once again live peacefully in any part of the country. “What is happening in parts of this country today, particularly in the South East, is not healthy for our development as a country because the elections are very very close. “The security we are asking for is not just for the purpose of the elections. It is also something that everybody wants. We should be able to have security at every given time; that way, we would have development. “We must also plead with our brothers and sisters who may have taken guns on the account of what they see as agitation to know that the best way to help our people is to allow peace to reign,” he said. NAN
