A report by The Cable claims that Ahmed Gulak, the murdered chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was warned against making the trip to Imo state where he was eventually shot dead.
The newspaper, citing a source, stated that despite being warned against the trip, Gulak insisted, noting that “we are all Nigerians”.
Gulak was the lead consultant on the public hearing in Owerri, the host city for Imo and Abia states.
“Nobody was interested in being deployed to Owerri but Gulak offered to go. He was initially meant to go to Gombe but he decided against it when it appeared no one was keen on going to Owerri.”
“We prevailed on him not to go, but he was hellbent on carrying out the assignment, despite the fact that consultants from the south-east turned down the assignment.”
Gulak was shot dead by gunmen on Sunday while returning to Abuja from Owerri.
According to the police, he left his hotel for the airport without any security personnel, after which six “armed bandits” ambushed his car at Umueze Obiangwu in Ngor-Okpala LGA and shot him.
Bala Elkana, the Imo state police spokesperson, had said the perpetrators are members of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN).
Elkana said the intelligence response team (IRT), mobile police force, and tactical units from the command trailed and killed the attackers.
IPOB has since denied the allegation and challenged the government to set up an independent panel of inquiry to investigate the incident.
Gulak’s death has, on one hand, been linked to the insecurity in the south-east, while some have described it as a political assassination.
At a press briefing on Monday, Hope Uzodimma, governor of Imo, had said the murder of the APC chieftain “appears to be a clear case of political assassination”.