Assassins Guns Abia State commissioner for agriculture and natural resources Dr Kenneth Nwosu

ABIA State commissioner for agriculture and natural resources Dr Kenneth Nwosu is battling for his life in hospital after being shot by unknown gunmen thought to be hired assassins on his way back from work. According to eyewitness accounts, Dr Nwosu was waylaid along the Amakama-Olokoro Road in Umuahia South Local Government Area of the capital on Wednesday evening. His attackers shot him in the abdomen at close range, leaving him critically injured but they did not take anything from his car, fuelling speculation that it was just a murder attempt. One eyewitness said: “We were attracted by the gunshots and when they died down, we started hearing cries for help. We later summoned courage and went to the scene, only to discover that it was the commissioner who was attacked. “He was taken to the hospital and one of the people who were with him told us that the gunmen blocked his car as he was descending the hill and started shooting. The commissioner and his aides alighted from the car and took to their heels but the gunmen caught up and shot him at the abdomen.” Dr Nwosu, who was the executive director of the National Roots Crop Research Institute, Umudike, before his present appointment, was receiving medical attention at the intensive care unit of a hospital in Umuahia. An Abia State Police Command spokesperson confirmed the incident adding that the police have launched a manhunt for the fleeing gunmen.