Top EFCC investigator escapes assassination

A top investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Austin Okwor, has escaped assassination by the whiskers when gunmen opened fire on him in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital.

In a press statement endorsed by the commission’s spokesperson, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, a copy of which was made available to the Tribune Online in Abuja, on Wednesday, the commission said the victim escaped death, on Saturday, when the assailants opened fire on him, after he left office on that day.

The statement further added that Mr. Okwor, an operative in the Property Fraud Section of the EFCC Zonal office in Port Harcourt, had closed late for the day and as he left office, he was suddenly accosted by a gang of daredevil hoodlums who opened fire on him.

Luckily for him, according to the statement, he was able to shake off his assailants but not without sustaining some bullet wounds as they kept firing at him.’

The statement further said that he was rushed to a private hospital in Port Harcourt where he was receiving treatment.

According to the Head of the Zonal office, Ishaq Salihu, the incident has already been reported to the Police in Port Harcourt.

“Okwor is one of the operatives investigating some sensitive cases including that pertaining to corrupt judicial officials. Before the incident, the officer had been receiving threatening messages. One of such messages which he received sometime in May, 2017 was reported to the Police.”

“This incident underlines the hazards which operatives of the commission are daily exposed to in the discharge of their duties.”

“In 2010, precisely September 14, the Head of the Commission’s Forensic Unit, Abdullahi Muazu was shot and killed by unknown gunmen in Kaduna. 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. Sergeant Eze Edoga, the Police escort was cut down, while a senior counsel with the Commission, Joseph Uzor was critically wounded but survived,” the commission lamented.