• Police decry visit without notification

Joint security forces in Anambra State are currently combing Amiyi/Eke Ochuche and other communities in Ogbaru Council of the state to fish out killers of two staff members of the United States Embassy in Nigeria and two Police Mobile Force (PMF) personnel, whose convoy was attacked last Tuesday in the area.

The security agents also said the operation is to rescue other personnel and a US Consulate driver, who were abducted in the attack. The gunmen, it was gathered, set their bodies ablaze alongside their vehicles.

It was learnt that no US citizen was in the convoy.The police, however, expressed worry that such a high-flyer entry could be made into the state without due notification.

The gunmen, according to an eyewitness, ambushed the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) officials, who were on a humanitarian mission to a rural community and abducted two police personnel and the driver of the vehicle in the entourage before escaping.

The eyewitness told The Guardian that the other officials of the embassy escaped from the scene with degrees of injuries. It was not clear whether the humanitarian missionaries and the police personnel were the main target or simply victims of circumstance.

It was learnt that the attack caused panic and pandemonium in the community, as residents had assembled to receive medical treatment from the UNICEF officials. The state Police Command, in a statement, confirmed the attack.

MEANWHILE, President Muhammadu Buhari, in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, yesterday, expressed worry over the development.

He said: “It was saddening to hear about the killing of the US embassy officials and our policemen. It is, indeed, a difficult time for families of those killed, the US Embassy and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). I, therefore, extend the nation’s condolences to families of victims.

Buhari equally received briefing about the tragic killing of several persons in Bwoi District of Mangu Council of Plateau State, as well as in Adaka Village in Makurdi and Apa councils of Benue State.
ALSO, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has condemned the attack on US Consulate staff members in the state.

Reacting to the incident in a tweet yesterday, Obi, who is a former governor of the state, said: “This despicable act is highly condemnable.” He sympathised with families of those killed, the US Embassy and other charitable international agencies involved.

Obi attributed increasing crime rate in the country to the “frightening poverty level and unemployment of youths,” which, he said, is a consequence of prolonged leadership failure in the country over the years. He maintained that the solution remains a quick turnaround from consumption to production.

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