High court judge escapes assassins’ bullet in Warri

Tragedy was averted on Tuesday, in Delta State, when an Administrative Judge of the Warri judiciary, Justice Marshal Umukoro, cheated death by the whiskers from suspected hired killers who were on his trail.
The judge, his orderly and driver escaped unhurt.
They were said to be heading from Ughelli, where the judge resides, to resume work in Warri at about 8.00a.m, when a gang of hoodlums, believed to be hired assassins, fired at his official car several times at Otuokoko village, but narrowly missed their target.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that the easy-going judge, who was to preside on heaps of cases on Tuesday, was held up at a traffic snarl at Okuokoko village and immediately the bandits sighted his car, they rained several shots at the vehicle, but missed their target.
His  driver, Akatugba Ossai, who recounted the scene, said as they approached the traffic jam at Okuokuoko, he sighted some armed youths who wasted no time in opening fire on the judge’s KIA Spotage jeep, saying that in the ensuing confusion, he courageously drove through the traffic hold-up to save his boss’s life.
“When I noticed two of the gunmen beside the vehicle, I pushed them aside and came face-to-face with three other members of the gang who fired at the front seat where oga hanged his suit, thinking he was there and the bullets pierced through the front windscreen and shattered the back windscreen.
“Besides, the gun-totting hoodlums also fired at the front where I was driving but the bullet only pierced a hole and veered to a different direction,” he said.
According to Ossai, the police orderly attached to his master did not chicken out , as he fired sporadically at gunmen who later fled into the bush.
The Nigerian Tribune gathered that other motorists abandoned their vehicles and fled in different directions.
When Nigerian Tribune contacted him on phone, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Charles Muka, said he had not been briefed concerning the incident. “I never hear that one o. I’ve not gotten that,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Justice Umukoro could not speak to the press as he was said to still be in shock.

Tribune