An operative in the Property Fraud Section of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Zonal office in Port Harcourt, Austin Okwor, has escaped assassination.
Africa update gathered from a statement issued by Wilson Uwujaren, the spokesman for the anti-graft agency, that unknown gunmen had opened fire on him as he left the office on June 24.
“Luckily for him, he was able to shake off his assailants but not without sustaining some bullet wounds as they kept firing at him.
“He was rushed to a private hospital in Port Harcourt where he is receiving treatment. According to Ishaq Salihu, Head of the Zonal office, the incident has already been reported to the Police in Port Harcourt.”
“This incident underlines the hazards which operatives of the Commission are daily exposed to in the discharge of their duties. “
Mr. Okwor is one of the operatives investigating some sensitive cases including that pertaining to corrupt judicial officials, Mr. Uwujaren said.
The commission said before the incident, the officer had been receiving threat messages.
One of such messages which he received sometime in May 2017 was reported to the Police, the commission said.
Mr. Uwujaren recalled that six months earlier, a team of prosecutors returning to Enugu after a court appearance in Owerri, Imo State, was attacked by gunmen who opened fire on them.
Eze Edoga, the police escort, was killed while a senior counsel with the Commission, Joseph Uzor, was critically wounded but survived.
He further revealed that in September 14, 2010, the head of the Commission’s Forensic Unit, Abdullahi Muazu, was shot and killed by unknown gunmen in Kaduna.
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