Abia: Otti visits families of slain policemen, vows to find perpetrators

From Okey Sampson, Umuahia

Abia State Governor Dr Alex Otti has visited the families of the policemen who were attacked in Aba by unknown gunmen and commiserated with them over the unfortunate incident.

Four policemen on duty were attacked at Opobo Junction in the Ogbor Hill axis of Aba last Friday evening. Two were killed, and two others were wounded.

Speaking to journalists after visiting the victims’ families and the hospitals where the two wounded officers were receiving treatment, Otti described the incident as unfortunate.

Regretting that the attack came a few weeks after a similar incident involving soldiers in the same Ogbor Hill area, Otti assured that there would be a change in strategy to deal with the situation. He vowed that his government would fish out the perpetrators of the dastardly act.

“We thought that with all that we have done, including rounding up some of the people who were involved in that last attack, that this would not happen again.

“We have decided to change strategy. We do not want to speculate, but like you (journalists) rightly asked, it is reasonable to suspect that the enemies of the state, particularly those who don’t seem to see any good or want any good for Abia people, may be somehow connected to this. That’s a suspicion.

“We are not going to let this go away without identifying and bringing to book all those who are directly or remotely involved,” Otti added.

Governor Otti said he believed that by the time investigations were over and all the intelligence being gathered was put together, the government would know where the attacks were coming from.

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He emphasised that his government would not succumb to blackmail.

“We believe that something is wrong, and our government is not going to succumb to this kind of blackmail, and we are going to fish them out wherever they run to.

“It is still early days, but like I said, we’ve started picking up some of the people that were suspected to be involved in the last attack on soldiers, and this one we are not going to allow it to die. We are going to follow it through”, Otti assured.

Otti commiserated with the state Commissioner of Police and the Inspector General of Police, reassuring security agencies in the state that the state government was behind them.

He equally reassured the people of the state that his administration was equal to the task and urged them to go about their lawful businesses.

Otti awarded scholarships up to the university level to all the children of the two slain officers and assured them that the Abia State Government would support the families’ upkeep.