Former Imo State Governor, Ikedi Ohakim has broken his silence on his attack by gunmen on Monday and the killing of four policemen in his convoy.
The former governor escaped death by the whiskers when gunmen rained bullets on his vehicle at Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State.
Ohakim said, 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 cornered and finished us.
“But the tyres held on until we got back home. That was the saving grace.”
He said the driver manifested 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.