By Peter Duru

MAKURDI — The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, weekend, escaped death by the whiskers when unknown gunmen launched an attack on him along the Makurdi-Abuja road.

Orhii was on his way to Abuja from Ge-Mbagwa Lessel in Ushongo Local Government Area of Benue State after the successful commissioning of an Ambulance he donated to the Lessel General Hospital and the rehabilitated LGEA Primary School in his home town which he rallied friends to undertake.

Vanguard gathered that the NAFDAC Director General and his team were trailed by his assailants from Akwanga and was attacked at Agaragu by the gunmen but for the vigilance and quick intervention of his security personnel, the DG would have been a dead man.

Narrating the incident to newsmen on phone, NAFDAC’s Deputy Director, Public Relation Unit and Protocol, Alhaji Abubakar Jimoh, stated that the security details attached to the NAFDAC boss had sighted a group of men numbering four in a ‘C’ Class Mercedes Benz who trailed the DG’s convoy from Akwanga.
According to Jimoh, the security personnel attached to Dr. Orhii had taken notice of the car and its occupants and were closely monitoring their movements.

He stressed that when the convoy got to Agaragu, the driver of the Mercedes suddenly manoeuvered his way in a bid to overtake the DG’s car but instead of overtaking the convoy, the driver of the suspicious car leveled up with the car conveying the NAFDAC boss.

He added: “At this point one of the men sitting at the back of the car pulled out a gun and pointed same at the DG’s direction, but the team of security personnel attached to the DG swiftly cuddled off our boss from the attackers and at the same time made frantic efforts to push the assaulting car off the road since it was not safe to engage the assailants in a gun duel because of the possible casualties that may result from stray bullets since the route was heavily populated.

“However, while this dragged for some minutes, and our men battled to take effective charge, there was also an oncoming trailer facing directly to the assailants; it was at this point that they had to beat a retreat to avoid being crushed by the heavy duty vehicle. They had no option but to retreat and we sped off and also saw them make a reverse to wherever they were coming from”, Jimoh added.