The Commissioner of Police in Anambra, Mr Tony Olofu, has vowed that the command, in collaboration with other security agencies, will deal with the killers of Dr Chike Akunyili.

Dr Akunyili, who was killed by yet-to-be identified gunmen, was the husband of the late Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs Dora Akunyili.

The police commissioner, who spoke while confirming Akunyili’s death, sued for calm and stressed that the perpetrators would be unmasked and “decisively dealt with“.

A statement issued by the command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, on Wednesday in Awka said that Olofu visited the scene where Akunyili was killed in NKpor and two other locations where violent crimes were perpetrated.

Ikenga quoted Olofu as saying that with the way they operated, the gunmen seemed to have lost every iota of human conscience and sensibility in them.

The statement said that at about 5 p.m. around the Nkpor Roundabout and without any provocation, some gunmen attacked and shot a police inspector attached to a Very Important Personality (VIP).

“At Afor Nkpor Junction, three unidentified bodies were recovered, a burnt Toyota Hilux and a vandalised Toyota Hummer bus were also seen at the crime scene.

“The lifeless bodies were taken to the hospital and regrettably one of the bodies was identified as one Dr Chike Akunyili”, Ikenga said in the statement.

He said the bandits also beheaded a yet-to-be identified man and thereafter fled the scene of the crime.

The police commissioner expressed regrets at the unfortunate loss of lives and valuables due to those senseless acts.

According to the PPRO, a team of police operatives attached to the Aguata Area Command at about 2 p.m. on Sept. 28, while on routine patrol along Ezinifite/Igboukwu Road, was attacked by hoodlums.

He said that the bandits, who rode in an unmarked Sienna vehicle and a Toyota Hummer bus, set the police patrol vehicle ablaze and later fled the scene.

“Similarly, there was a gun attack on a member of the public at about 5 p.m. on Oko Road.

“The criminal elements set the vehicle of the victim ablaze, leaving him with a bullet wound and escaped. The victim was rescued and taken to hospital where he is responding to treatment”, he said.

On Sept. 28, some undesirable elements, in an attempt to snatch a Lexus 350 car from its driver on Agulu Road, shot him.

“The attackers abandoned the victim and the car and fled. The victim was immediately rushed to the hospital but was confirmed dead by the doctors on duty. 

Meanwhile, the Department of State Services (DSS) has denied the allegation that its operatives murdered Dr. Chike Akunyili and a security escort in Anambra on Sept. 28.

The Public Relations Officer of the Service, Dr Peter Afunanya, made the denial in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

He said the clarification followed reports being circulated in the social media that operatives of DSS murdered Akunyili.

“The attention of the DSS has been drawn to an allegation that its operatives killed Dr. Chike Akunyili and his security escorts at Nkpor, Anambra on Sept. 28.

“The service hereby denies these allegations and wishes to clearly state that they are spurious and illogical.

“There was no basis for the DSS to kill the medical doctor and/or fellow law enforcement agents,” he said.

According to the spokesman, the service cherishes life and believes in the rule of law.

Afunanya urged the public to be wary of false narratives by those desirous of using the DSS to cover up their heinous acts.

He said the operations of the hostile elements were already well known in the public space and to the discerning.

The DSS spokesman said the desperate efforts of the criminals to divert attention or deploy reverse psychology to deceive unsuspecting public had become a stock in trade that has defined their patterns and trends.

He said the law would soon catch up with the criminals.

Afunanya added that the service and its sister agencies would not relent in tracking down those behind the breakdown of law and order in parts of the country.