Kwara State Governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed, has described the murder of Mr. Chinwe Asadu, the state Commissioner of Police, as shocking and unfortunate. Asadu reportedly visited his home-town, Nsukka, at the weekend and was driving into his residence when he was shot dead by yet to be identified gunmen who ambushed and opened fire on his car at Amorji Nike, close to Abakpa Nike in the East local government area of the state capital, Enugu at about 10:00 pm local time, according to witnesses.
The Governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Alhadji Abdulwahab Oba, said: “CP Chinwe Asadu, in the discharge of his duty in Kwara State, contributed immensely to the sustenance of peace in the state and in the upholding of our values as a state of harmony,” noting that it was particularly painful that Asadu had become another index in the annals of the growing national insecurity.
He said: “It has become very expedient for us as a nation to rally round in finding enduring solution to the national malaise of insecurity,” and prayed to God to grant the family, the rank and file of the police in the state and the Nigeria Police in its entirety the fortitude to bear the loss.
Huhuonline.com learnt that Asadu was recently posted to Kwara from Lagos, where he was a Mopol Commander. His orderly, Aloha Olaniyi, and driver, Oliver Omeh, who were with him at the time of the incident on Saturday night, sustained serious bullet-wounds and are in a critical condition at National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu.
Eye-witness accounts said Asadu had seen off a visitor in company of his driver and a police orderly posted to guard his residence from Abakpa Police Division, leaving behind the official escort team that came with him from the Kwara State Police Command. They were returning to the house after dropping off the visitor when they suddenly noticed a bus trailing them as they entered his street, only for the gunmen to start firing at the vehicle from the rear.
Asadu was killed on the spot while the Police Orderly posted to guard the CP’s residence from Abakpa Police Division, sustained bullet wound all over his body and his rifle taken away before the gunmen escaped.
Meanwhile, the Enugu Police Commissioner, Mr. Tonye Ebitibituwa, was said to have directed his men to conduct a manhunt for the gunmen within and outside the state capital to track down the gunmen behind the assassination of Asadu, who Huhuonline.com learnt, would have retired from service next month.
