The Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, on Thursday, said the bandits who attacked the convoy of his deputy, Dr Emmanuel Akabe, were about 40 in number.
Sule told State House correspondents in Abuja that the large number of the bandits was the reason they out-gunned the policemen attached to Akabe, killing three of them and a civilian driver in the process.
“They were up to 40; they killed the policemen, three of them and one other person. But, my deputy, he is okay; he came back safe and doing fine,” he added.
Reports indicated that the deputy governor was travelling to Abuja for an official engagement when bandits rained bullets on the convoy around Akwanga.
The attack reportedly took place about 6pm.
On Wednesday, the Commissioner of Police, Nasarawa State Command, Bola Longe, confirmed the incident but dismissed initial accounts suggesting that Akabe was targeted by some persons, saying that it was a robbery attack.
However, the Igbo socio-political organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has expressed concern over the spate of insecurity in most parts of the country especially in the South-East, saying Nigerians may resort to self-help if something urgent is not done about the development.
The group’s National Publicity Secretary, Uche Achi-Okpaga, said this in a message sent to one of our correspondents on Thursday.
Achi-Okpaga said the spate of rape, kidnapping and killing in the North, the South, particularly in the South-East had reached an alarming level.
He said the people’s patience had been stretched to the limits and only a thorough investigation and exposure of those behind the crimes could assuage the people.
Achi-Okpaga cited the case of a woman who was said to have been killed in Enugu, asking that her assailants be brought to book.
He said, “The spate of rape, kidnapping and killing in the country particularly in Igbo land by the Fulani herdsmen has reached an alarming crescendo. The recent killing of an innocent woman in Nchatancha, Enugu, is condemnable.
“With the situation virtually out of hand of the security agencies, the people may be compelled to resort to self-help for survival unless a drastic effort is exerted by the security forces, to quench the impending national holocaust.
“We, therefore, call on the police, to as a matter of urgency, investigate this condemnable killing of this innocent woman and bring the culprits to face the wrath of the law in order to restore the confidence of the people.
“The people’s patience has been stretched to their elastic limits and only a thorough investigation, exposure of the criminals and total check of the seemingly intractably crimes will assuage the frayed and bruised nerves of the people.”