I Did Not Order Shooting Of FRSC Officers, Abia Speaker Cries Out

Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Chikwendu Kalu, has denied ordering the shooting of officers of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC.

Two officers of the Corps were lucky to have survived after police officers attached to the Abia Speaker opened fire on them along the Umuikaa/Aba Port Harcourt expressway.

Speaking to journalists in Umuahia on Sunday, Mr Kalu said he was not present at the scene of the incident, adding that his wife who was present narrated the incident to him.

Giving an account of the ordeal, the Speaker said his wife was travelling to Aba with her chief aide and a friend when they were “accosted aggressively” by FRSC officers on duty at the Arungwa Junction of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.

Kalu said the officers hit his wife’s car repeatedly before dragging her chief aide out of the car and in the process allegedly manhandled her.

According to him, his wife who tried to intervene, sustained injuries in the process.

The Speaker explained that he was at his official lodge in Umuahia when he received a “distress call” over the incident and he sent his own chief aide to immediately go to the scene of the incident and find out what transpired.

He however said he was shocked to wake up the next day and read in a newspaper that he ordered his security aides to shoot the FRSC officers.

Meanwhile, the officers are due for surgery at an undisclosed hospital in Abia State, FRSC Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem, said on Sunday.

Kazeem explained that the surgery is to extract the bullets from their bodies, after the officers sustained life threatening injuries.

Mr. Kazeem, who expressed confidence in the police, noted that the corps is awaiting the outcome of a detailed investigation by the Forces to know exactly what caused the ugly situation.

“We can’t take the law into our hands. The matter has been reported to the police and the Commissioner of Police in Abia State is on top of the matter,” he stated, adding that the corps has confidence in the police to handle the matter.

The State Police Commissioner, Leye Oyedade, said the incident is being investigated and a decision will be made public soon.