Five senior police officers, including the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Paiko police station, SP Muktar Sabiu, have been killed in battle with bandits in Niger state during which scores of the hoodlums were gunned down.
Locals were said to have reported the mass movement of the bandits around Lambata area of the state on Saturday afternoon, resulting in the deployment of a combined team of Police, Army and other security personnel to the location.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the Niger state police command, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed this on Sunday in Minna.
He said, “On 11/02/2023 at about 1100hrs, information was received that armed bandits were sighted around Kwakuti-Dajigbe village area of Lambata, in an attempt to attack some communities around Gurara LGA.”
He said a combined team of police from Gawu-Babangida and Paiko Divisions, military, and vigilante members, were drafted to the scene, adding that “the hoodlums were engaged in a gun duel and repelled with scores of them neutralised while others escaped with bullet injuries.”
According to DSP Abiodun, “Regrettably, DPO Paiko SP Mukhtar Sabiu and four other police personnel from both Divisions lost their lives during the gun duel.”
He said the Commissioner of Police, Niger State Command, CP Ogundele J. Ayodeji, led a reinforcement team to the scene and recovered the bodies of the deceased personnel.
The commissioner, according to the PPRO, condoled with the families of the affected personnel, while reassuring members of the public that the command would not relent in the fight against banditry and other criminals in the state.
