By Sunday Ani
Former Governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, has said that last week’s assassination of former Political Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Ahmed Gulak, was an abomination on the soil of Imo State.
In a statement made available to the Daily Sun, yesterday, the former governor, who condemned the sordid incident, expressed the fear that Gulak’s murder in Imo, if not properly and patriotically handled, could lead to untoward consequences, considering the volatile situation in the country.
He noted that the people of Imo, and by extension, Igbo as a people, are accommodating, peace-loving and protective of strangers or their visitors, stressing that Gulak’s killing on Igbo soil was an abomination as it negates what the Igbo race stands for.
Ohakim, therefore, charged security agencies to ensure that proper and painstaking investigations were carried out to track down the culprits and punish them accordingly.
“I join several other fellow compatriots across the country to appeal to the relevant authorities to leave no stone unturned in the search for the masterminds of this unconscionable act. Although Gulak will never return to be with us, investigations into his murder must be thorough, transparent, and such that will leave every Nigerian with no iota of doubt.
“Therefore, I expect every adult indigene of the state, irrespective of political leaning or partisan interest, to see this incident as a challenge to our collective integrity as an accommodating and peace-loving people, and a call by humanity to assist and cooperate with the relevant authorities both in sourcing and providing the necessary intelligence in the search for the culprits. The time is now to say a final ‘enough is enough’ to the recent spate of violence in our state,” he said.
Ohakim also condemned the wanton killings of the youths in the South East, either by criminal elements or security agents, saying, “Gulak’s murder was against the backdrop of the death of our own brothers and sisters, either in the hands of criminals or operatives of state agencies. My heart bleeds over this needless loss of lives, most of them youths.”