Gunmen kill Imo commissioner, two others, abduct one

GUNMEN killed three persons in different locations in Imo State at the weekend, while one person was abducted in a highbrow area of Ikenegbu Layout in Owerri metropolis.

   The gunmen fired shots at policemen and took the victims away.

  Among those killed was a Commissioner 111, in the Imo House of Assembly Service Commission and a former Chairman of Ihitteuboma Local Council of the state, Mr. Tobias Onyeleke. Eyewitnesses said he was dragged down by three hoodlums while driving alone in his Toyota Accent. He was said to have resisted the order of the gunmen to alight from his car.

   The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abdulmajid Ali, who confirmed the incidents, said he has dispatched with “charge” all the Divisional Police Officers (DPOs), in the 27 local councils to the field to track the hoodlums.

  He confirmed the assassination of the Imo State official, in front of a popular eatery along Ugwu Orji, near Owerri, about 5p.m. on Sunday, disclosing that intensive manhunt had begun on his instructions to track the culprits down to make them face the full wrath of the law.

  Ali said: “Some crime incidents happened today. They killed one in Nkwerre, Orlu and kidnapped one in Ikenegbu, in the process they wounded some policemen who were around to rescue the victim. They still took the victim. We are investigating seriously,” Ali said.

  The Guardian gathered that many people, including tricycle operators, passers-by and motorists ran away from the busy road in Owerri when the assassins struck.

   The story also sent ripples rounds the entire city, bringing suspicion of resurgence of crimes in the state, ahead of the February general polls.

   For some time, there had not been any of such incidents in the state.