- We need to know who killed Ahmed Gulak so as to clear the air of speculations
It is yet another tragic moment in an era of violence in Nigeria. A top political apparatchik gunned down in cold blood. Ahmed Gulak, a politician and former adviser to former president of the country, Goodluck Jonathan, had visited Imo State and was on his way to the Sam Mbakwe International Airport when some gunmen assassinated him.
The circumstance proved it was premeditated. He was ambushed even though his taxi was taking a quick route to the airport. Two, it was not one car but a convoy that trailed him. They included, according to eyewitnesses, a silver-coloured Toyota Camry car of the 2005 model, a 1998 Toyota Sienna, a white Totoya Hilux and a golden Lexus RX 330.
There was no report of theft. They did not cart away any valuables from the victim and his fellow travellers. They did not kill the driver and another passenger with him. They shot and left him for dead at 7:20 hrs on May 30, around Umueze Obiangwu in Ngor-Okpala local government area not far from the airport.
The president, Muhammadu Buhari, expressed condolence and said the killers would be apprehended and brought to justice. A few days later, the commissioner of police of the state, Abutu Yaro, issued a statement to the effect that the killers had been discovered and killed.
“Having established the identity of the assailants and the description of the vehicles used in carrying out the attack, the teams further got details of the direction the hoodlums have taken, the team was able to establish the location of the suspects.
“The suspects were rounded up at Afor Enyiogugu junction in Aboh-Mbaise Local Government Area, where they were met distributing onions to locals from a trailer they confiscated.
“On sighting the police, the hoodlums providing security coverage to those sharing the onions opened fire on the police teams, but the gallant and battle-ready police officers swiftly returned the fire.
The six hoodlums who carried out the killings and four other members of their gang were fatally injured, three out of the four vehicles used in attacking Gulak were impounded.”
The police also disclosed that they apprehended three of the four vehicles in the attack. They also seized three AK47 rifles, one pistol, five AK47 magazines with 92 rounds of live ammunitions as well as criminal charms.
This killing took place in the atmosphere of a southeast in security turmoil. Reports of bonfires of institutions like police stations and buildings belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission as well as gun battles have made the region a place to dread. The activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) with its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN) have heightened fear. They even paralysed activities recently by calling for a shutdown that neither the Nigerian Army nor police was able to counter.
The report that at least some of the suspects have been killed is cold comfort until the root of the assassination is known. Who sent them? Gulak was no ordinary Nigerian. He was not only an aide to our former president, he defected from the People’s Democratic Party to the ruling All Progressives Congress. He also played a cardinal role in the political fortunes of the incumbent governor of the state, Hope Uzodinma, as chairman of the panel that picked him as the party’s candidate for governor.
There are quite a few speculations flying as to why he was killed, and some of them are quite incendiary. Hence it is not just important to kill the suspects, but to examine every evidence and unveil the unvarnished facts to the Nigerian public. It is one death too sensitive to ignore.
