Confusion As Gunmen Kill Kwara CP …IG Vows To Arrest Killers

The Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, yesterday promised to do ‘everything’ possible to apprehend and bring to book the killers of Chinwike Asadu, Commissioner of Police in Kwara.

In an interview with newsmen in Abuja, CSP Frank Mba, the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, quoted the IG as saying that the circumstance surrounding the death of the late commissioner was ‘most unfortunate and saddening’.

“Those who murdered Asadu have murdered sleep, they will find no rest, they will find no peace, they will find no comfort and they will find no hiding place until they are brought to justice,” Mba quoted the IG as saying.

Mba said the IG had also ordered the commissioner of police in Enugu State to leave no stone unturned in arresting and bringing the perpetrators of the crime to justice.

He said Abubakar had also directed detectives from the Police Homicide Unit as well as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad to provide technical support to Enugu State command in efforts to apprehend the killers.

Asked if the police had made any arrest in connection with the crime, Mba said he could not confirm that.

Meanwhile, there was confusion in Enugu, the Coal City, as news spread yesterday morning that the Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Chinweike Asadu was shot dead in the state capital by dare-devil gunmen.

The Police boss was killed at about 9.45pm last Saturday at gunpoint in his car at Amorji Nike, near the densely populated Abakpa Nike area in Enugu East Local Government Area within the state capital.

The orderly of the commissioner, MrAloha Olaiyi and driver, Mr Oliver Omeh escaped the attack but they sustained gunshot wounds and are reported to be in a critical state at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu.

Reports said that, Mr Asadu, who was on a visit to Enugu, his state of origin, had a visitor and he decided to escort the guest in his own vehicle with only his driver and orderly coming along with him.

While the trio were returning to the commissioner’s residence, they reportedly noticed a bus trailing their vehicle and as they veered into the street, the gunmen who must have laid an ambush for the commissioner a few metres away from his private residence, started firing at the vehicle from the rear.

It was during the sporadic shooting that the 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.

The official escort team that came with the Commissioner from Kwara State Police Command that were left behind in his compound, got wind of the attack but not until the gunmen had routed their escape.

They quickly rushed the commissioner and his aides who were in a pool of blood to the Orthopaedic Hospital but the police boss was confirmed dead at the hospital.

He reportedly gave up the ghost before arriving at the hospital.

His aides who were badly wounded were immediately admitted but they are in a critical state.

The Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Ebere Amaraizu has confirmed the incident, adding that “a serious man-hunt has started to track down the gunmen behind CP Asadu’s killing.”

However, the Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, yesterday promised to do ‘e

“Our correspondent who went round Ilorin, yesterday, reports that the command and other police formations were like ghost towns.

At the command and other formations visited by newsmen, officers and men were seen discussing the demise of the police chief.

Some top police officers in some of the formations and officers’ mess were in tears while others were too dazed to utter a word.

Some of the officers, who spoke to newsmen but refused to give their names, described the death of the commissioner as ‘a big tragedy’ to the command and the entire police force

“We have lost a fine gentleman and hardworking officer,’’ they said.