Police officer shot dead as gunmen attack Edo deputy governor Philip Shaibu’s convoy a day after reinstatement (video)

Gunmen attacked the convoy of Comrade Philip Shaibu in Benin City, capital of Edo State, on Thursday, July 18.

The attack happened just one day after the impeached deputy governor of Edo State was reinstated.

After his impeachment was voided by a Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, July 17, Shaibu returned to Edo from Abuja on Thursday.

He was in company of  the Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo, Sen. Monday Okpebholo and others.

They had just arrived the city from Abuja aboard a chartered flight when they were attacked on Airport Road.

The gunmen, in a vehicle at the exit gate of the airport, were said to have opened fire on the convoy, and the armed security details attached to the APC candidate and Shaibu returned fire.

Okpebholo was said to be hospitalized in an undisclosed hospital in Benin City though his current state is not known.

The incident forced shops and offices to hurriedly shot down, while majority of motorists abandoned their vehicles and scampered to safety.

A statement by Mr Godswill Inegbe, an aide to Okpebholo, said his principal was attacked by the gunmen.

“During the unprovoked attack, three mobile policemen attached to the security detail of Sen. Okpebholo were injured with bullet wounds, while one of the policemen has been feared dead,” Inegbe said.

According to him, Okpebholo is at this moment admitted in an undisclosed hospital in Benin for medical attention with other members of the entourage.

Watch videos from the scene of the attack below.