Confab Delegate Escapes Death As Another Loses Son!!!

Just two days after the National Conference was thrown into mourning following the death of the wife of its chairman, Justice  Idris Kutigi, in the wee hours of Wednesday, another tragic incident happened yesterday when gunmen suspected to be members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect ambushed the convoy of three traditional rulers involving a delegate to the conference, His Royal Highness Mai Abdullahi Ibn Muhammadu Askirama III, the Emir of Askira in Borno State, on their way to attend the funeral of the late Emir of Gombe, Alhaji Shehu Abubakar, who died earlier in the week in a London hospital.
The Emir and one other traditional ruler escaped by a whisker but the Emir of Gwoza was not so lucky. He was killed by the gunmen.
A statement by the National Conference assistant secretary, James Akpandem, yesterday, said while the Emir was speaking on phone with the conference deputy chairman, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, he was heard taking a deep breath after his miraculous escape. The emir was quoted as saying “My deputy Chairman, I’m most grateful, it was a narrow escape.”
Akpandem further said Akinyemi, too, in a solidarity message to the traditional ruler said, “Your Royal Majesty, on behalf of the National Conference, please accept our heartfelt relief at the failure of the attack on your convoy. We thank Allah for your safety.”
The statement added that the secretariat earlier on Thursday also received with shock the news of the death of Adebola Ladoja, son of a former governor of Oyo State and delegate to the conference, in a car accident.
Adebola, whose father was the chairman of the Conference Committee on Energy, was said to have died when a truck rammed into his Golf car while driving along the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.
Akpandem said the deputy chairman had, on behalf of the principal officers and delegates to the Conference, expressed his condolences to the family of the deceased, particularly His Excellency Senator Ladoja.
Meanwhile, delegates and other distinguished Nigerians on Friday continued to pay condolence visits to Kutigi over the death of his wife, Hajiya Maryamu.
The Kutigi family has announced that the Fidau prayers for the late Maryamu will hold tomorrow, Sunday, by 10am at Justice Kutigi’s residence along Nelson Mandela Street in Asokoro, Abuja. Maryamu, 70, passed on Wednesday, May 28, at the National Hospital in Abuja.