The victims were slain in a gunfight with bandits who tried to break into settlements in the LGAs of Munya and Gurara.
In Niger State’s Munya and Gurara Local Government Areas, bandits killed a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and four other cops.
The victims were slain in a shootout with bandits who tried to break into settlements in the LGAs of Munya and Gurara.
In a statement given to Channels Television on Sunday, Wasiu Abiodun, the state’s police public relations officer, verified the occurrence.
He said that the officers successfully repelled a bandit attack on a market in Munya LGA on Friday and engaged the bandits in a Saturday attack on communities in Gurara LGA.
The Paiko Division’s Mukhtar Sabiu was the DPO who was killed, according to the police spokesman, but he withheld the identities of the other four officers.
The statement stated, “Unfortunately, DPO Paiko SP Mukhtar Sabiu and four other police officials from both divisions lost their life during the gun duel.”
“On Tuesday, February 10, 2023, at around 1500 hours, alleged armed bandits/insurgents attempted to attack the Chibani village market through Sarkin-Pawa, Munya LGA.
Police tactical units and vigilante members mobilised to the market where the hoodlums were routed and effectively repelled without any mayhem, but the incident caused some panic. However, normalcy was soon restored.
In a similar vein, intelligence was received that armed bandits had been seen in the Lambata area of the Kwakuti-Dajigbe villages on February 11, 2023, at around 1100 hours, in an effort to assault several settlements close to the Gurara LGA.
The hoodlums were engaged in a gun fight and repelled, with scores of them being neutralised while others managed to flee with bullet wounds, according to the report. Teams of police from the Gawu-Babangida Div and the Paiko Div, as well as members of the military, were called to the area.
According to the police spokesman, Ogundele Ayodeji, the state’s commissioner of police, led a team to the scene to retrieve the officers’ remains.
In expressing sympathy to the relatives of the victims, the police commissioner promised that the command will step up its efforts to combat banditry.
