BIZMAN'S SOS TO JONATHAN, IGP: SAVE ME FROM ASSASINS
Omorodion
For the Managing Director of Hensmor Nigeria Limited, Dr Henry Omorodion, it would have been another case of high profile murder, if not for providence.
A vehicle belonging to the Benin, Edo State, High Chief was riddled with bullets recently, at Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, by some bandits who, Omorodion thought he was in it. Luckily, he had earlier changed his mind and travelled to Lagos by air, while his driver, a Police Orderly and his guests(two German nationals) travelled in his vehicle.
He disclosed that as his convoy arrived Ijebu-Ode, about 10 armed men opened fire on his vehicles. According to him, they concentrated the attack on the owner's seat and shattered the side with bullets.
He said he was also lucky that the foreigners were not inside his own vehicle, when the suspected assassins struck.
Also, the professional manner in which his driver maneuvered the vehicle, as the bandits were firing the shots, helped to prevent loss of lives. Omorodion, who spoke to Daily Sun in his office at Ikoyi, Lagos, explained that he suspected some highly placed government officials to be the brain behind the attack.
He narrated how he was just returning from his town, Igbanke, where he attended a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) meeting, in preparation for the last primaries before he was attacked.
According to him, he had premonition that something sinister was about to happen to him, and decided to travel by air.
He explained that as the Chairman/MD, Petroleum Products Monitoring Service Limited (PPMSL), he did a consultancy job for the government, which involved monitoring crude oil lifting and importation of petroleum products into the country. He disclosed that the job took him and his staff to the volatile creeks, where he had running battles with some powerful cartels, involved in bunkering.
He disclosed that when part of the money owed him by the government was paid, some people started calling him on phone, threatening him to allow them share from it. He said: 'Some people I believe to be vultures began to show up, to reap from where they did not sow. Some highly placed government officials started calling me on phone, threatening to kill me, if I did not bring the money to be shared among them. Some even threatened to kidnap me, if I didn't allow them to take part of the money.'
He claimed they also extended the threat to his friends and associates. 'Only a few weeks ago, the home of one of my associates and worker, Mr. Ogbe, who lives in Warri, was raided and his son murdered in cold blood,' he said.
Omorodion could not imagine the embarrassment the attack would have caused the country, if the Germans were killed by the bandits. He has however, appealed to President, Goodluck Jonathan and the Inspector- General of Police (IGP), Mr. Hafiz Ringim, to save him from assassins, who, according to him, are well placed in the society.
He said: 'Some highly placed individuals are after my life. Please, Mr. President, the IGP, save me from assasins. I have been marked for elimination but I know that with your intervention, they will not succeed.' His driver, Blaize Orubor, who sustained gunshots wounds during the attack, described the incident as a war.
The victim, who spoke to Daily Sun on his hospital bed, said: 'It was like war, about seven men, armed with sophisticated rifles, rained bullets on the car. I thought it was over for me, but God rescued me and other occupants from death, though, I lost four fingers. The gunmen were not armed robbers, they were assassins, sent to kill my master.'
A source at Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos, who confirmed the attack, said the incident was also reported at the Ogun State Police Command. He disclosed that investigation had already commenced and assured that the police would soon unmask those behind the attack.