Senator attacked, personal assistant gunned down

[Richard Akindele]

Police probe attack on senator

The police have begun investigation into the attack on Senator Lee Maeba who lost his personal assistant and two others to gunmen in Port Harcourt on Saturday.

There were conflicting accounts on the motive of the attackers, who riddled the senator’s Prado jeep, marked 97B 2007, with bullets along Hospital Road in Port Harcourt Old Township, a few hours before President Olusegun Obasanjo’s arrival in the state for a visit.

While some believe that the attack on Maeba, who represents Rivers East District, was politically motivated, the police are insisting that it was purely an armed robbery operation.

The Police Public Relations Officer of the Rivers State Command, Mrs. Ireju Barasua, a deputy superintendent, told our correspondent on Sunday that preliminary investigations by the police had revealed that the attackers of the senator were armed robbers.

Barasua said that the Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr. Sam Adetuyi, had visited the scene of the incident with his men and found out that the robbers wanted to rob a bank on the street when the senator’s car ran into their blockade.

According to her, the robbers were about to gain access into the bank when the police deployed their men to ward them off.

She said the police had recovered a cache of arms left behind by the fleeing robbers but would not disclose the number and types of the weapons.

Barasua said however that the police were still working on other theories to determine whether there were other motives behind the attack.

During the attack, Maeba’s PA, simply identified as Kuros, an Ogoni, was killed along with a riot policeman and another civilian.

No fewer than 20 riot policemen and civilians have so far been slain by gunmen in Port Harcourt in separate attacks on banks and oil firms between January and May 20.

The police are yet to fish out any of the perpetrators of the crime.

-Punch-