Former Central Bank Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, has spoken on how he narrowly escaped death when gunmen unleashed terror on him and his security aides on two days ago.
Soludo also described the killing of three of his police orderlies as senseless while praying for the repose of their souls.
The former CBN governor, who expressed worry over the kidnap of the state Commissioner for Public Utilities, Emeka Ezenwanne, during the attack, appealed to the kidnappers to release Ezewanne in the spirit of Easter celebrations.
Soludo spoke last night while featuring on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme.
Narrating his ordeal, he said, “We were having an interactive session and we finished the mass about 4pm and the scheduled interactive meeting with the Isuofia youths.
By the way, Isuofia happened to be my hometown. I’m a village boy and this is where I feel safest anywhere in the world. I walk the street, I jog in my community, I take long walk, I am everywhere as a village boy.
“With this interactive session, there were over a thousand youthrecruitment seated and I was just making preliminary remarks to open up the interactive session with other dignitaries from the communities, commissioners and members of the house of assembly. And just as I was about to wrap up and I said, ‘Finally!’ for them to open up for comments and answers, gunshots! At first, I thought may be the policemen were shooting in the air with the kind of exuberance in the hall until I began to hear people screaming and we all scampered for safety.
“It took more than 10, 15 minutes of continuous gun battle. By the time we all came back, we saw three bodies there lying in the pool of their blood – they were the three policemen. May God grant their souls eternal rest. We will continue to pray and support their families.”
“I was totally unhurt, not in anyway hurt,” Soludo noted.
When asked whether the attack was linked with his ambition to become Anambra governor, the ex-CBN governor said, “I am friend with everybody contesting the office. I don’t think the office is worth the blood of even a chicken let alone a human being. I will be shocked that it was politically motivated and that it was aimed directly at me.”
He said investigation by security agencies will unravel the perpetrators of the heinous act.
The former governor of the Nigeria’s apex bank was attacked in his hometown in Isuofia in the Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Soludo, of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, is a frontline aspirant in the November 6 governorship poll in the state.
