Two policemen were yesterday killed in Kabba Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State following the storming of the divisional police headquarters by a gang of armed men.
The armed men numbering about 10 were said by eyewitnesses to have struck at about 12:45 am, carting away arms and ammunitions from the armoury and setting free the detainees before bombing the police station.
Shortly after the attack, the armed men struck at the local branch of First Bank, which was situated within 200-metre range from the police station. At the bank, they were said to have made an abortive attempt to gain access to the bank vault, shooting sporadically.
According to eyewitness accounts, they fired several explosives into the bank’s vault but failed to gain access into it before leaving in frustration.
The slain policemen have meanwhile been identified as Inspector Jimoh Saliu and PC Cletus Oseni.
An attempt by the anti-riot policemen deployed from nearby Okene at the instance of the Kogi State police commissioner Amana Abasankanga to rescue the Kabba police station was rebuffed by the bandits. The bandits were said to have opened fire on the rescue team, deflating the tyres of their Anti Personnel Carrier tank before escaping.
The commissioner, who believes the bandits to be desperate armed robbers, said he had put his men on red alert and hoped they would soon be arrested. Said he, the police preliminary investigations had revealed that a large sum of money for the payment of teachers’ salaries and council workers’ salaries was deposited in the bank the previous day.
The bank, he further disclosed, had recently been raided by armed robbers more than twice before. He appealed to the residents not to panic and assured that the long arm of the law would soon apprehend the fleeing bandits.
The local monarch, the Obaro of Kabba, Oba Michael Olobayo, who received the police commissioner, commended him for his prompt response to the distress call. Expressing shock over the incident, he commiserated with the families of the slain policemen and urged his subjects to be vigilant.
One of the policemen, identified as Corporal Olatunji Opeyemi who managed to escape the scene with bullet wounds, said the bandits had arrived in three vehicles accompanied by a power motorcycle rider. A security guard at the bank, Jimoh Ibrahim, corroborated the account of the policeman.
In a swift reaction, the state governor Alhaji Ibrahim Idris described the incident as not only unacceptable but also barbaric. The governor, who spoke through his director general for press affairs Mr Richard Elesho, directed the State Security Service to root out the culprits.
The corpses of the slain policemen have been deposited at the morgue of Kabba general hospital.
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