Imported User:
Facts about this Wednesday’s robbery attack on the home of Hajiya Zainab Abacha, daughter of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, have begun to emerge. A family source suspected there is a deliberate serial attack on the late head of state’s family.
Although Hajiya Zainab, target of the attack, was not at home when they struck to rob her of her belongings, a family source disclosed that the last son of the late Abacha, Al-Mustapha, was the one who intimated his elder brother of the robbers’ presence in the house.
The robbers had succeeded in shooting Al-Mustapha in his leg, but he managed to place a distress call to Muhammad Abacha, his elder brother. “When Muhammad got wind of the robbers’ attack through his younger brother, he summoned all his security aides to his sister’s house in order to rattle them before the arrival of the police to the scene,” the family source told our correspondent.
Al-Mustapha had already told Muhammad: “Already the robbers are inside the house and have succeeded in shooting me in the leg.” Muhammad later called the police and informed them about the attack.
Our source disclosed that there was a similar attack in the house of Muhammad recently and the robbers were overheard by one of the security guards at Abacha’s house, after the operation, saying they should proceed to the house of Abba, younger brother of Muhammad, to rob and kill him.
An argument was said to have ensued among them, and they later decided to abandon their mission and leave the premises, our source added.
The family source also disclosed that the attacks might have been aimed at the Abacha family. “Muhammad arrived in a commando-like style with all his security aides who took positions in strategic locations around the house. He succeeded in rounding up the robbers,” the source added.
The acting police public relations officer, Umar Mohammed, told our correspondent in Kano that the police were able to conquer the robbers and shoot one of them in the leg, close to his ankle. But the other robbers escaped with various injuries, he said, adding: “We have now intensified our search to get at them.”
Mohammed said that, in the ensuing gunfire with the robbers, the police were able to recover a pistol, a machine gun and 60 live ammunition from the robbers.
The police said that the arrested robber is now at a hospital and was being nurtured to recover from the injuries he received so he would help the police in the course of their investigation.
According to Mohammed, the police had successfully overpowered the robbers, forcing three of them to jump into the next compound, which eventually is the office of the World Health Organisation (WHO). He said, “All our recoveries were made inside the complex, as the robbers took to their heels and abandoned the weapons, their shoes and other personal belongings.”
Investigation is ongoing to ascertain the extent of loss suffered by the victim and to find out whether there was any motive behind the attack.
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