Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, escaped death on Thursday when his convoy ran into an ambush by bandits on Benin-Warri highway at Oghara, the headquarters of Ethiope West Local Government Area of the state.

The bandits, who blocked the highway with a trailer, were robbing a bullion van at about noon when the governor’s convoy arrived the scene.

Instead of abandon the operation and bail, the robbers, armed with very high powered rifles, opened fire on the governor’s convoy, and other road users.

In the duel, the driver of the governors chief security officer, Chris Eza was killed, while Eza and his orderly sustained gunshot wounds.

Government House sources said Eza and his orderly were instantly rushed to an undisclosed private hospital for urgent medical attention.

Police sources stated that unspecified number of other road users and passers-by were killed in the exchange.. The extent of casualty on the side of the bandits could not be ascertained.

Police sources said that one of the Sport Utility Vehicles in the convoy of the governor was riddled with bullets..

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But the governor, who was seated in the SUV directly behind the vehicle occupied by his ADC, escaped unhurt in the encounter.

Police sources said Uduaghan departed for Warri from Benin to watch the much-publicized ceremonial football match organized by the state government in honor of the retiring celebrated footballer, Mr. Austin Jay-Jay Okocha, before the bloody encounter with the bandits.

However, the governor made it to Warri City Stadium to honour the soccer star despite the ugly incident.

A police source said, “The robbers barricaded the highway at Oghara at about 12:30pm today (Thursday) with a trailer. They held traffic and robbed a number of road users. They were working on a bullion van, parking money from the bullion van when the Governor Uduaghan’s convoy arrived at the scene.

“The governor’s team probably thought that the robbers would respect constituted authorities as the convoy broke through the barricades. But the robbers were undeterred as they continued the operation even when they heard the sirens heralding that a big man was in the vicinity.”

“It is a usual development that bandits would run away from the roads on hearing sirens of the convoy of a big man or on sighting the convoy from the distance but these sets of bandits stubbornly waited for the convoy. Since the bandits refused to budge, the security operatives had no choice but to confront them.

“The driver of the ADC to the governor, whose name was not readily known was shot dead while the ADC himself and his orderly, sustained serious gun shot injuries. Many other persons were killed or injured in the crossfire. We (Police) are still collating details about the other casualty. We will come up with the details as soon as dust settled on the incident.”

The bandits set their bus ablaze before departing the scene. The fate of the bullion van and the bank officials and the security who accompanied it could not be established.

The robbery incident on the highway occurred less than 24 hours after some footballers invited for the football match were attacked by bandits at a popular hotel in Warri on Wednesday.

However, four of the hoodlums, were killed by the policemen from the Quick Response Squad, who arrived at the scene during the dastardly operation.

The Commissioner of Police, Delta State Command, Mr. Joshua Oshiomogor, confirmed the incident in a telephone interview with our correspondent.

Although Oshiomogor said the details of the incident were sketchy, he confirmed that the driver attached to the governor’s ADC was killed.

 

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