What was supposed to be a routine inspection exercise by Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, turned controversial in Port Harcourt when his convoy came head to head with that of the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi.

The incident, which occurred on Saturday at Nwanja junction in Trans Amadi area, almost resulted in a clash between the security details of the duo.

The security operatives attached to Amaechi, made up of men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in the state, reportedly knocked down Wike’s Escort Rider apparently in a way to make way for the former governor.

The tension was, however, heightened when some of the SARS operatives allegedly cocked the guns, resulting in the chief security detail to the governor physically chasing the men away.

The drama lasted for over 30 minutes before Governor Wike proceeded on the inspection of some ongoing projects in the state.

The incident left both buddies-turned sworn enemies accusing each other of an assassination attempt.

A statement by Wike’s media aide, Mr Simeon Nwakaudu, said the Governor’s out rider was hit by Amaechi’s convoy and the policemen in the Pilot car attacked.

Amaechi’s camp, however, disagreed, blaming the Governor.

Prince Tonye Princewill, who was in the same car with the Minister, said that Governor Wike’s dispatch rider pulled a pistol to assassinate Amaechi but missed his target after which Amaechi’s ADC intervened to save the Minister from further assassination attempt.

His words: “I am at a loss if this was not an assassination attempt on the Minister, somebody should explain to me in a clearer sentence why did the Wike’s dispatch rider failed to stop the two security vehicles of the Minister which had already crossed but decided for whatever reasons to block the vehicle in which the Minister was driving?

“Why did an attempt by Amaechi, who was behind the steering, to navigate his vehicle out of danger (lead to him being) accosted by two security men from the Governor’s convoy, who had pulled out their pistol and gun to shoot him? Why did these men of darkness after realising that the vehicle that the Minister was driving was a bullet-proof resort to hitting the jeep with the butt of their guns and in the process broke the right driving mirror and attempted to break Amaechi’s windscreen and after which he pulled his pistol to kill Amaechi?”

The police was yet to react to the incident as at the time of filing this report.

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