‘It was 15 minutes of gun battle’ — Soludo narrates how he was attacked

Charles Soludo, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says the “gun battle” between police officers and gunmen lasted for “more than 15 minutes” when he was attacked on Wednesday.

TheCable had reported how Soludo was attacked by gunmen at an interactive town hall meeting in Isuofia, Aguata LGA of Anambra state.

Three police officers providing security for him were killed in the attack, while Emeka Ezenwanne, the Anambra commissioner for public utilities, was abducted.

Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, the former CBN governor said he started hearing gunshots when he was about to round off his speech.

The former CBN governor said he thought it was the police officers that were shooting into the air when the gun battle started.

Soludo added that everyone at the meeting scampered for safety while the incident lasted.

He said they later met the bodies of three police officers in a pool of their blood.

“Just as I was about to wrap up, I said, finally, for them to open up for comments, questions, and answers. Gunshot! At first, I thought maybe the policemen were shooting in the air, concurring with the kind of exuberance in the hall itself,” Soludo said on Thursday.

“Until I began to hear people screaming and all of that and everybody began to scamper for safety. Then, it took several minutes, more than ten, fifteen minutes of continuous gun battle going back and forth and stopping and starting again.

“By the time we all came back, we saw three bodies laying in the pool of their blood. They were the three policemen. May God grant their souls eternal rest.”

Soludo said he will be shocked if it turns out that the attack was politically motivated.

In February, he had declared his intention to run for the governorship of Anambra state.