The Emir of Askiria, Abdullahi Muhammadu, said on Friday that he escaped narrowly from the members of the dreaded Boko Haram.
The emir, who is a member of the ongoing national conference, said this in a text message to the Deputy Chairman of the conference, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi.
Some hoodlums, suspected to be members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect, had invaded the convoy of dignitaries on their way to attend the funeral of the late Emir of Gombe, Shehu Abubakar and made attempt to violently abduct some Emirs.
Muhammadu, who was among the emirs in the entourage, made a narrow escape as the hoodlums descended on him and other emirs.
The Assistant Secretary in charge of media and publicity of the conference, Akpandem James, who stated this in a statement in Abuja on Friday, said the conference was happy that the emir was able to escape.
James said, “In response to a text message sent to him by the Deputy Chairman of the Conference, Professor Akinyemi, the Emir who was taking a deep breathe after the miraculous escape, said, ‘My deputy Chairman, I’m most grateful, it was a narrow escape.’
“Akinyemi in a solidarity message to the Emir said, ‘Your Royal Majesty, on behalf of the National Conference, please accept our heartfelt relief at the failure of the attack on your convoy. We thank Allah for your safety.’”
He added that Akinyemi who has been standing-in for the Kutigi since the demise of the latter’s wife on Wednesday, expressed the joy of the delegates over the escape of the Emir and whole heartedly condemned what he described as “cowardly and dastardly attack.”
It was gathered that two other Emirs, the Emir of Uba, Ismaila Mamza and Emir of Gwoza, Idrisa Tinta, all in Borno State were abducted during the incident carried out by gun-wielding insurgents.
The whereabouts of the respected traditional rulers were still unknown at the time of this statement on Thursday although security agents were said to have been on the heels of the abductors.
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