How I Survived Assassination Attempt-Audu Ogbeh

By Bukola Kayode

Former Minister for Agriculture Chief Audu Ogbeh, who died on Saturday, revealed in his final interview with Daily Trust, how he escaped a bloody assassination attempt.

Ogbeh who also served as the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), told the paper that the assassins were sent by a close associate.

He said: “Oh yes. They came at night, heavily armed and shouted, “We have come to kill you.” I said, “In the name of the Lord Jesus you will fail.”

“Oh yes. They broke down the door and came in. They had finished their bullets firing all over the place. They shot my guards. They shot me, left me in a pool of blood and went away. This eye nearly fell out”.

 “My domestic staff who were outside heard them chanting, “We don kill am.” They came back at 6am and took me to hospital. My head was very large and I was totally unconscious.

 “Somehow, (they) managed me and I recovered. I had to leave the place and come to Abuja here, where Shehu Malami of Sokoto gave me a flat to stay as long as I could. I had no house”.

Still during the interview, Ogbeh disclosed that former President Olusegun Obasanjo didn’t force him to resign as PDP national chairman at gunpoint.

 

He revealed that he voluntarily resigned as PDP chairman in protest against Obasanjo’s overbearing nature. He said; ……”there was a night we had a disagreement and he spoke to me in a manner I didn’t like. The next day, we had a caucus meeting and I told him that he spoke to me in the presence of a lady as if I was his cook. I asked if he thought the job meant everything in the world. I didn’t earn a dime as party chairman. I asked if he had ever heard that I took a dime from the party’s fund and he said no. I also asked if I had gone to him asking for money; so he shouldn’t talk to me like that.”

Speaking specifically on the age-long speculation, that Obasanjo physically forced him to resign, he said: “He didn’t. After that, I made up my mind that I was going to resign. I wrote my letter here. The story that he brought out a pistol is not true. Presidents don’t carry pistols.

“I said I had had enough. I decided to give it to him and leave because anything you are doing in this world that takes your dignity away is not worth it. Dignity comes from God who created you. So I resigned”.