Ahmed Gulak’s Death & the Details That Aren’t Adding Up -By Ifeanyichukwu

First, let me begin by extending my heartfelt condolences to all concerned. Nigeria has lost an astute leader. May Allah (SWT) grant him rest and give his family and friends the fortitude to bear the loss. I am not usually moved to write anything about the faithful departed unless there’s a compelling reason for me to do so. Honorable Ahmed Gulak’s death – for me – is perhaps one of the few instances that expose the itinerant nature of Nigerians and most especially our political leaders.

And raises pertinent questions as well, particularly regards to the place, time and suspicious circumstance that shrouded his sudden but violent end. Will Nigerians and indeed his family and friends take the death news just like that without asking questions and go to sleep? Will the already endangered Igbo lives in the north suffer for what they don’t understand? I don’t think they would. So, why not talk about it if not for any purpose but for to educate the reading public? Wikipedia wouldn’t have gained enormous popularity if it did not avail the reader with historic details and take-home facts.

Alright, we move. When the news of his death first filtered in on the morning of Sunday May 30, 2021, many wondered what and why did he have to die in no less a place than Imo state of southeast Nigeria; the current hotspot of Nigeria. As at that time, details were still sketchy, with some saying that the incident had happened in the night of Saturday May 29th while others claimed that he had died from gunshot wounds in the head and the belly in the early hours of Sunday May 30th.

Ahmed Gulak

Veteran journalist and blogger Kemi Olunloyo held the opinion that the late Ahmed Gulak had a premonition of his death and that the Fulani bandits – having trailed him to Owerri, Imo state – were responsible for the assassination of the politician. Her tweet on the incident had come on the hills of claims by the Nigeria Police Force, Imo state command that members of the ESN/IPOB movement (who have been tagged as Unknown Gunmen) had done the evil deed of slaying the APC stalwart.

She also alleged that the late politician was moving a large amount of cash before he met his death. Whoever owned the cash plus the whereabouts is yet to be known. It is also public knowledge that the Late Gulak had sneaked out of the Protea Hotel, Owerri without calling for police escort. That in itself was also suspicious given that he was on an official national assignment according to the details provided by the deputy senate president Ovie Omo-agege.

DSP Ovie Omo-agege had provided further hint on the adventures of the late politician in the southeast state of Imo when he stated that the politician had gone to Owerri as a political consultant on behalf of the national assembly in the wake of the recently constituted Constitution Review Committee commissioned by the national assembly. You will recall that the lawmakers had been sent to conduct public hearings in their respective geopolitical zones and for the southeast, Imo state was picked as the point of convergence.

But before these details began to surface, the police command of Imo state had in the evening of Sunday May 30th, 2021 circulated a photo shot of persons who lay stone dead (and couldn’t help us in understanding why the late politician was in Imo state) as the culprits who had murdered Gulak. Indeed, it will help our understanding if we probed further as to why the police had failed to also parade the two other persons who had been in the Uber taxi with Gulak before the assassination.

The fact is that if we put the pieces of information together, we would still not go too far in understanding what really happened that day. First, was the breaking of the news by the police. Second, was the intelligence reportage from Kemi Olunloyo. Third, was the report of decimating the killers by the police and; fourth, was the revelation by the DSP Ovie Omo-agege. The details aren’t adding up the least bit and, it won’t add up if we restricted ourselves to just the Owerri incident. But then, allow me to reconstruct the jigsaw puzzle.

The late Ahmed Gulak – former aide to former president Goodluck Jonathan on political matters – had travelled to Owerri, Imo state (in my humble opinion and I have good reasons to so submit) ostensibly for the purposes of influencing the outcome of the zonal constitutional review exercise. Owerri, Imo state was selected as venue for a reason. And that is because of APC’s man Friday – Governor Hope Uzodinma. Ahmed Gulak had a worthy friend in Governor Hope Uzodinma whom he’d favored against Mazi Uche Nwosu of the former Governor Rochas Okorocha camp within the APC.

That’s point number one. Also, that Ahmed Gulak – a Fulani Muslim from Adamawa state – was sent down to Owerri, southeast Nigeria (instead of the northeast) as consultant on behalf of the national assembly according to DSP Ovie Omo-agege was not the whole truth. Ahmed Gulak was the face of a formidable group of lobbyist from the north who with their enormous war chest of slush fund, are determined to render the review exercise a nullity. If he hadn’t met his untimely end, Nigerians would’ve wondered how that the southeast are failing to get their acts right.

Again, to enhance our understanding a bit more; permit me to turn your attention to a recent viral video (that trended on the Facebook channel of BTV Nigeria) where Dr. Augusta Anosike – a founding member of the Nigeria Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-determination (NINAS) – had made certain weighty revelations about what is currently going on in the country, in the southwest; the Sunday Igboho campaigns and stuff. In that video, Dr. Anosike had said amongst other things that the Fulani’s are aware that their time was up and therefore are desperately looking for persons to bribe.

Now, if you used that video as standard, taking into consideration as well the happenings in the federation presently; you will easily understand why the late Ahmed Gulak was in Owerri, Imo state and travelling with a large amount of cash (according to Kemi Olunloyo); without police escorts (in sharp contrast to DSP Omo-agege’s claims that he was on national assignment) and, why the police hurriedly posted photo-shopped pictures of gunned down criminals it claimed were Gulak’s assassins just to cover up the whereabouts of the cash and the other two persons travelling with him that day.

Of course, the incidences of unknown gunmen running the southeast aground provided the alibi that would turn the judgment against the ESN/IPOB movement and also make many Nigerians especially from the northern part livid to the point of wanting to revenge. It is so touchy every time the Igbos made headline news but that is why Nigeria is still in the doldrums because the federation preferred to make the Igbos scape goats for any offense even offenses whose history has been thoroughly proven to have been perpetuated by some ethnic group other than the Igbos.

And for you to know that this account of Ahmed Gulak doing the bid of the lobbyist group is true, the senate had quickly reined in on the northern youths who had threatened to retaliate on the Igbos; prompting a question I needed to ask: Will anything worth our while come out of this constitutional review given that the athletes’ gun had hardly fired its shot than heinous stories have begun to come out of the exercise? Won’t it be better if the exercise was halted now given that AGF Abubakar Malami is pushing for the suspension of the constitution?

Comrade Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh; political counselor & advocate for attitudinal change write from Abuja.