Some gunmen, suspected to be kidnappers,
on Thursday shot dead a top government official with the Bauchi State
Ministry of Local Government Affairs, Babangida Garba.
A police sergeant was also said to have
been injured following an exchange of gunfire between security
operatives and the gunmen who later escaped.
It was gathered that the gunmen stormed
the mosque, at about 6am where the deceased had gone to pray at about
6am. They reportedly asked everybody in the mosque to lie on the floor
and took him (Babangida) away, but angrily shot him when he refused to
follow them.
The source said, “Babangida came out to
pray in a mosque in front of his house. After the prayer, some gunmen
entered and asked us to lie down on the floor and they took him away. We
later heard gunshot and later, we found Babangida’s body close to the
mosque where they had shot and abandoned his corpse.”
The 53-year-old was a one time
accountant at the Secretary to the State Government’s office. He was,
until his death, the Director of Administration and Finance with the
Ministry of Local Government Affairs.
The Bauchi State Police Commissioner,
Lawal Shehu, said, “The suspects stormed a mosque at new GRA, where they
shot and killed one Babangida Garba, a member of staff of the Ministry
of Local Government Affairs when the victim resisted being abducted.”
He added that policemen later had an encounter with the gunmen, saying they abandoned their vehicle and fled into the bush.
The CP stated that a sergeant attached
to the Federal Highway Patrol also sustained injuries in the encounter
and was responding to treatment.
He said normalcy had been restored to
the area, adding that the police had started intensive patrols to arrest
the fleeing suspects.
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