Nigerian
authorities are pledging to improve security countrywide afterwhat they
call a failed assassination attempt against asoutheastern state governor.
Reports say Abia State Governor Chief Theodore Orjiwas ambushed
yesterdayon his way tothe airport in neighboringPort
Harcourt. One person was killed and several others injured, but Orji himself
was not hurt. The latest incidentis one of several attacks against high governmentofficialsin
what some say is a growing security problem. Police authorities say they will
put more officers out on the streets andbeef up the intelligence unit to
infiltrate criminal gangs.
Despite
the attack, Governor Orji told VOA English to Africa reporter Chinedu Offor the
state remains peaceful. "The state of Abia state is cool and calm. There is
nothing that is shaking the state at all. We are organized, we are pushing
along as a government that is focused, so people are relaxed." He blamed his
political opponents for the attack.
"Stories
will speculate and these stories germinate by our opponents. My convoy that was
about to come and pick me up was waylaid on the Port Harcourt / Enugu express
road with the aim of eliminating me. It was not an armed robbery attack at all
because those hoodlums shot at every car that was on my convoy, but
concentrated on my official car."
Governor Orji says the government is
working hard to improve security in the state. "We have a problem of insecurity
that we are battling here. We have the police, but the police do not have
adequate equipment fight this people. My people who were there, they over
powered them, their fire power was too much for my people, my people resisted
them, but their fire power was too much."
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