The paramount ruler of Bassa Kingdom in Kogi state, HRH William Jimba Keke escaped assassination by the whiskers on Friday, August 23 around 7:30pm.
The monarch was said to be leaving Lokoja for Oguma after an official engagement at Lokoja unknown to him that hoodlums who understood his movement from Lokoja to Oguma had concluded plans to waylay him and assassinate him.
The royal father had used a flying boat at Ganaja River Bank to cross to Shintaku before proceeding to Oguma alongside two other passengers with their vehicles in the same boat.
Unknown to the paramount ruler that alleged hired assassins were in one of the vehicle in the same boat with him.
After successfully crossing to Shintaku, the vehicle carrying the alleged assassins first alighted from the boat and blocked the paramount ruler’s vehicle pretending that the vehicle was faulty alas it was a plot to allow the assassins to quickly move ahead and mount road block to wait and lay ambush on the paramount ruler.
While the vehicle of the paramount ruler finally alighted at Shintaku his driver made a move to proceed to Oguma but some of his acquaintance at Shintaku beckoned at the paramount ruler and ask him to make a U-turn back to Lokoja as the road was not safe for him.
Attempts by the paramount ruler at Shintaku to cross with his vehicle on a flying boat back to Lokoja met a brick wall as the boat owners claimed the drivers were not around to drive him. It took the intervention of a policeman at Shintaku before one of the boat drivers reluctantly agreed to help him cross.
While the paramount ruler was still on top of the river with the flying boat, the alleged assassins got wind of his movement then took a vehicle from Odugbo axis to stop the flying boat from moving. They got to Shintaku and used a flying boat to pursue the paramount ruler only to get to the Ganaja river bank at the time the flying boat which conveyed the paramount ruler’s vehicle was alighting.
The alleged assassins who disguised themselves as vigilante accosted the paramount ruler at Ganaja river bank and unleashed a reign of terror on the paramount ruler.
The alleged assassins, who are said to always mount road blocks between Shintaku and Odugbo, threatened to burn the paramount ruler, his driver and the police escort inside his vehicle at the Ganaja river bank.
Policemen from one of the divisions in Lokoja town got wind of the terror and quickly rushed to Ganaja river bank but could not contain the situation. SARS operatives from Lokoja town also came to the scene but had to use diplomacy to avoid casualty.
It took the redeployment of more security agents before the paramount ruler was rescued from the alleged assassins at the Ganaja river bank.
The police tried to find out the cause of the terror but were told by the alleged assassins who brandished guns and cutlasses that the paramount ruler vehicle was suspected to be conveying arms to Bassa.
Immediately, police officers searched the paramount ruler’s vehicle in the presence of the alleged assassins and found nothing incriminating. After searching, Policemen forcefully moved the paramount ruler to Lokoja A Division for safety.
Investigation had since commenced on the incident.
It would be recalled that the paramount ruler of Mozum had a face off with local vigilantes at Sheria on Sunday night August 30, 2019. Our reporter gathered that the ten man committee set up by Kogi state government to broker peace in Bassa land may have hit the rocks as the threat to the life of the Aguma Bassa could trigger serious tension in Bassa land.
