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By Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Imo State Police Command has disclosed that its operatives have arrested one of the suspected killers of All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Ahmed Gulak.
The command’s spokesperson, Mike Abbattam, made the revelation while parading the suspects alongside others at the command headquarters in Owerri, the Imo State capital.
The suspect, identified as Anosike Chimobi, from Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area (LGA) of the state was apprehended a year after Gulak’s death.
Gulak, a former aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, was murdered by a group of armed men on May 30, 2021, during a visit to Imo State.
He was reportedly trailed from his hotel room to the spot where he was killed around Umueze Obiangwu, in Ngor-Okpala LGA, close to Sam Mbakwe Airport Road, Owerri.
Abattam said the command had been on thr trail of Chimobi since the killing of Gulak in 2021.
He stated that the suspect escaped during a gun battle between police personnel and his gang members at Aboh Mbaise shortly after the murder of the APC chieftain where five of the suspects were killed.
Chimobi, who also spoke with reporters, claimed to be a commercial bus driver and not a member of the criminal gang.
“Gulak’s killers approached me to convey them in my vehicle and I initially resisted, but I later gave in after they threatened to kill me,” he said.
The suspect admitted that he drove the criminals to the spot and blocked Gulak’s vehicle which was on its way to the airport.
“They shot the him after he resisted their demand that he should come down from the vehicle,” Chimobi added.
Chimobi explained that the assailants later ran into a team of security operatives who shot repeatedly at the other vehicle conveying them until it somersaulted and caught fire.
Abbattam added that the command also arrested other suspected criminals who have been terrorising communities in Imo State.
He explained that among those paraded were members of the gang who burnt the home of the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Professor George Obiozor.
Some of the items recovered from the suspects paraded by the police include guns of different calibre, assorted charms, a live snake, among others.