The death of security orderlies in another convoy attack was avoidable

Former Imo State Governor Ikedi Ohakim is a lucky survivor and partaker of the year 2023. He escaped death by the whiskers at the hands of unknown gunmen at the very outset of the new year. But four police orderlies in his convoy weren’t so lucky; they were killed in the attack.

Ohakim, who was governor from 2007 to 2011, came under attack by hoodlums penultimate Monday in Ehime Mbano council area of Imo State while travelling alongside two of his children en route his country home in Isiala Mbano council area. Reports said, and the ex-governor confirmed, that the gunmen came primarily for him. They tried to block his vehicle’s route but his driver out-manoeuvred them and shook off their tail in a hot pursuit. Apparently frustrated that they missed their primary target, the assailants blocked the route of his backup vehicle that they bombed and burnt, resulting in the death of four security orderlies.

No one gave an account of the attack better than Ohakim himself. Following the incident, he told journalists he survived through divine intervention and the type of vehicle he rode in. “We were driving between Isiala Mbano and Ehime Mbano. These people blocked us at a place called Umualumaku. They attacked us from behind and were firing at our vehicles consistently. I thought I was a dead man and I was with two of my children – my son and daughter,” the ex-governor said, adding: “What saved me was the bulletproof vehicle. That I am alive today is by the special grace of God and the bulletproof vehicle. But unfortunately, they killed four of our boys, including the driver. Yes, we lost four of the boys and I am devastated.”

According to him, the gunmen fiercely tried to stop his vehicle. “They pursued us and continued firing at our tyres. Luckily, the vehicle had what is called ‘run-flat’ tyres on which you can continue driving even after a puncture. So, even when they shot at the tyres hoping to immobilise us, the vehicle continued moving. If they were ordinary tyres and the vehicle had stopped, they would have cornered and finished us. But the tyres held on until we got back home. We drove for about 20 minutes before we got home. That was the saving grace.” He had words of commendation for his driver: “The driver who manifested a tremendous level of driving skill kept manoeuvring until he lost them at a junction when he went right and, not knowing where we had gone, they headed in the other direction on the road to Umuahia. We then turned and went back to my house. We were there when Imo Government House sent reinforcement from Owerri who brought the corpses of my security people.” Ohakim preempted a typical security narrative that the attack could be by separatist agitators in the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). “This goes beyond IPOB, I must say. These are professionals, well-trained. They are not ordinary people. They were driving a blue BMW 5-series car, brand new. They came to kill me,” he recounted.

We rejoice with the former governor on his narrow escape and deplore in most forceful terms repeated attacks by criminal elements on citizens going about their normal schedules. The Ohakim incident underscored the heightened insecurity in the South-east/South-south areas, occurring barely two months after the attack on the convoy of the Omega Fire Ministries General Overseer Apostle Johnson Suleman, in which seven persons, including three police orderlies died, and shortly before that, on the convoy of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah representing Anambra South senatorial district in the red chamber of the National Assembly, which claimed the lives of five persons, including two policemen among his security escorts. Just like Ohakim, Suleman and Ubah survived the attacks by virtue of their bullet-proof vehicles.

The recurrence of collateral fatalities in gunmen’s attacks highlights the need for rethinking special protection for ‘big men’ as we’ve often canvassed in this space. If a man is already riding in an armoured vehicle, why does he yet need many security orderlies who, unlike him, will not be riding in armoured vehicles? We made the point before and here reiterate that if a principal feels sufficiently endangered to kit himself with a bullet-proof ride, he should be required by police regulation to also provide bullet-proof vans for security orderlies so they are not exposed to a danger that, as it were, was anticipated. The ultimate, of course, is to eliminate the menace of insecurity such that no one – big or small – would feel endangered. But while that objective is being worked at, the Inspector-General of Police should mandate preemptive protection of escort orderlies just like their principals, so we do not continue to sacrifice national security assets to dangers that are foreseen.