Posted by By Austin Ogwuda on
GOVERNOR James Ibori's convoy on Thursday night ran into a barricade mounted by an armed robbery gang near Adeje town along the Benin-Warri highway. He was held up for about 45 minutes near the scene, while he ordered his security details accompanying his convoy to go and clear the road before the journey continued again.
ASABA - GOVERNOR James Ibori's convoy on Thursday night ran into a barricade mounted by an armed robbery gang near Adeje town along the Benin-Warri highway.
He was held up for about 45 minutes near the scene, while he ordered his security details accompanying his convoy to go and clear the road before the journey continued again.
Saturday Vanguard gathered that the governor was returning from Warri where he had gone to feature in the executive phone-in programme anchored by the Delta Broadcasting Service (DBS) Warri station when he ran into the robbery gang. A DBS reporter on the governor's entourage that night stated that if not for the governor's show of bravado, it could have been a messy situation. According to him 'armed robbers again struck last (Thursday) night along Warri-Benin Road near Adeje in Okpe local government leaving two of their victims helpless but for the intervention of the state governor, Chief James Ibori."
The victims, Mr. Somiari Bell-gam, a staff of SPDC, Port Harcourt and Opu Epelle also from Port Harcourt were on a journey from Lagos to Port Harcourt and had planned to pass the night in Warri when they ran into the blockage of the armed robbers at about 8.10pm.
The eye witness said they ran into a nearby bush, abandoning their Honda Legend car and came out at another part of the road, kilometers away from the point of the blockage.
At this junction, he said Governor James Ibori on sighting the helpless victims stopped to find out what was wrong and later asked some of the security agents attached to his office to drive to the scene of the blockage to recover the victims' car. The governor stayed there for about 45 minutes. The victims were however not all that lucky as their vehicle had already been vandalized by the robbers as attempt to move it failed.
Governor Ibori then ordered that the victims should join him to his private residence in Oghara to pass the night.
Contacted on phone, the Delta state police commissioner, Mr. Udom Ekpoudom who has been on official tour of police formations in the state said 'as I (CP) speak, I am at Sapele, from there to Koko and so forth, I am not aware of the incident," he stated.