‘I thought I was a dead man,’ former Imo State gov, Ikedi Ohakim, speaks on gunmen attack

Former Imo State governor, Ikedi Ohakim has spoken on the brutal attack on his convoy by armed men at Oriagu in the Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of the state on Monday evening, January 2.

Recall that the former governor narrowly escaped being killed together with two of his children when gunmen threw a bomb at his convoy and sprayed bullets on them. Four of his police orderlies who were in the backup vehicle were killed.

Ohakim was with two of his children and was returning from a visit when the gunmen carried out the attack. It was gathered that but for the bravery of the driver of the ex-governor, the hoodlums would have gotten their target.

Ohakim, who was the governor of Imo state between 2007 and 2011 told TheNiche, that he escaped by the special grace of God and because of the bulletproof vehicle he drove in.

He said he thought he was a dead man when the gunmen started shooting at his vehicle, as he was with two of his children when the incident occurred.

According to him, “We were driving between Isiala Mbano and Ehime Mbano. These people blocked us at a place called Umualumaku.

“They attacked us from behind and were firing at our vehicles consistently. I thought I was a dead man and I was with two of my children – my son and daughter.

“What saved me was the bulletproof vehicle. That I am alive today is by the special grace of God and the bulletproof vehicle.”

The former governor lamented that four of the policemen in his convoy, including the driver, were killed by the gunmen.

“Yes, we lost four of the boys and I am devastated. How can that be? What crime did they commit?”

The former governor explained further that the gunmen pursued them and continued firing at the tyres, explaining that luckily the vehicle has what is called run-flat tyres “on which you can continue driving even after a puncture. So, even when they shot at the tyres hoping to immobilise us, the vehicle continued moving. If they were ordinary tyres and the vehicle had stopped, they would have cornered and finished us.

“But the tyres held on until we got back home. That was the saving grace.”

He said the driver manifested a tremendous level of driving skill and kept manoeuvring until he lost them at a junction when he went right and did not know where they had gone.

“We then turned and went back to my house. We were there when Imo Government House sent reinforcement from Owerri who brought the corpses of my security people,” he said.