Some 24 hours after the Nigerian Senate bemoaned the security situation in the country, a lawmaker from Edo state, Senator Clifford Ordia, Wednesday recalled how suspected bandits Monday attacked his convoy twice under 24 hours at different locations on the Okene-Lokoja and Lokoja-Abaji axis.
Ordia, a PDP lawmaker who heads the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, said he escaped death by whiskers as the criminals opened fire on his convoy while returning to Abuja from his hometown in Edo state.
And barely 24 hours after the lawmakers’ bombshell, an Edo lawmaker, Senator Ordia narrated his ordeal on the Lokoja/Abuja road.
He said during the exchange of fire between the criminals and security officers attached to him, three policemen sustained wounds from gunshots.
The lawmaker also said one of the wounded policemen was in a critical condition, but responding to treatment in one of the hospitals in Abuja.
Though lucky to have escaped unhurt, Ordia said his vehicle was riddled with bullets.
“I’m seriously traumatised by the horrible experience,” he said.
“We were coming from Edo state, somewhere between Okene and Lokoja, when we met these suspected bandits, they opened fire on my convoy. The gallant policemen had to immediately return fire.
“The other security vehicle behind had to immediately join them and they were able to repel the suspected bandits. During the exchange, three of the policemen sustained gunshot wounds. One of them was critically injured. We had to immediately rush them to a Federal Medical Centre in Lokoja, Kogi State.
“They did their best and were able to stabilise them. I’d to immediately put a call across the Federal Medical Centre in Abuja to be on standby. One of the policemen had a bullet lodged close to his liver.
“We met another setback around Abaji. There was traffic because of the incidence and because we had to save the lives of the wounded policemen, we decided to make a move. They opened fire on us. Some vigilantes had to join the policemen and they were chased into the bush.
“That was how I survived that attack. If you see all my vehicles, you’ll see how the bullets damaged them. But I’m glad that we all survived. I must salute the gallantry of our policemen. If given the right equipment, they can do a lot and protect Nigerians.”
The lawmaker therefore called on the federal government to immediately initiate moves to restructure the security architecture of the country, warning that no one is safe anymore.
Something urgent, he stressed, must be done to restore order to every part of the country and protect the lives of every Nigerian.
