Police: ASP died in kidnappers’ attack on Abuja Road

THE police on Thursday, in Lokoja, Kogi State, confirmed the killing of an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and another victim when suspected kidnappers opened fire on  travellers on their way to Abuja.

The incident happened on Tuesday in the Koton-Karfe  section of the Abuja-Lokoja Road.

The police command said investigation into the shooting has started and that the perpetrators will be apprehended.

Suspected kidnappers had on Tuesday evening, opened fire on an Abuja-bound passenger bus, around Koton-Karfe, killing an unspecified number of perssengers. Others escaped with bullet wounds.

They shot several times into a Sharon bus, said to be coming from Port-Harcourt.

The occupants of a Toyota Camry going from Ibadan to Abuja, who escaped the scene, sustained various degrees of injury.

Speaking with our correspondent yesterday in Lokoja, the state’s police image maker, William Aya, said that the commissioner of police has ordered a manhunt for the suspects and rescue of the victims.

Aya, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said two people, including a senior police officer, died from the shooting.

“On yesterday’s incident at Gegu Beki, only two people lost their lives while others sustained injuries. The victims are one ASP and one yet-to-be identified person. They died as a result of accident and not gunshot. The vehicles ran into kidnap scene and as a result summersaulted, and that led to the death of the two persons, as against eight as earlier reported.”

He said that other victims were receiving treatment at the hospital.

“The Commissioner of Police has ordered for a complete manhunt of the kidnappers and to rescue the victims,” added Aya.

One of the survivors said that the incidental happened around 5.58 pm.

He said that he and four others that were in the Toyota Camry, were on their way from Ibadan, and heading for Abuja, when suddenly they cited some masked men in military gears, about two kilometers away.

He said that the attackers wore military camouflage, with black mask, and were stopping vehicles.

According to him, some of the occupants of the vehicles they stopped were marched into the bush.

He said that the driver of the Sharon bus coming from Port-Harcourt, on sighting them, tried to escape, was shot at, deflating the tires.

According to him: “It was at this point we noticed that they may be kidnappers. Our driver then engaged reverse gear and they started firing at our car.

“The driver was hit on the shoulder with the bullet coming out at the other side, and it hit the man at the back seat on the head.”

He said that they drove to the Gegu police station, from where arrangement was made for their evacuation to the Koton-Karfe General Hospital, from where they were taken to the Federal Medical Center Lokoja.

He said the driver was referred to the National Hospital Abuja, while another occupant who sustained bullet wounds to the head was referred to the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, to remove bullets lodged in his head.

According to the Police Extract diary obtained by our correspondent, the incident was reported on Wednesday by one of the victims.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Busari while confirming the incident, said that he got a report that a car stopped by kidnappers dressed in camouflage was shot at, which made it to summersault, killing all the occupants, including an ASP, from Edo State.

Efforts made to report on the progress of the two survivors that were taken to the Federal Medical Centre Lokoja, for treatment, was to no avail, as the hospital’s spokeswoman, Blessing Ajayi, who sought to receive clearance from the management before knowing what to do, did not give a go ahead to speak with the victims, as at the time of filing this report.