33 Held Over Killing Of Niger Village Head, Burning Of Police Station

Police in Niger State have arrested 33 suspects over the killing of a Lambata village head, Mohammed Abdulsafur and burning of a police station at Latin Korro.

Last weekend, some irate youths of Lambata in large numbers stormed the residence of the village head and killed him.

The youths inflicted serious injuries on him and his younger brother, Ibrahim Mohammed for unexplained reasons.

Police spokesman, Wasiu Abiodun, said yesterday that  operatives led by the area commander in Suleja on the instruction of the commissioner, Ogundele Ayodeji, swung into action and conducted a house-to-house search with some witnesses and 14  suspects were arrested in connection with the crime. 

He said during interrogation, the suspects confessed that there had been a lingering chieftaincy tussle between the late village head and one Umar Ilyasu Sarki who claimed that the 37 district heads (Mai-Angwa) in the community are loyal to him; and that they did not recognise the late village head as their leader.

Rev Father Set Ablaze By Bandits Buried, Niger Govt To Rebuild Parish

“Furthermore, the suspects mentioned other members who participated in the act as Hamza Umar Sarki, Dauda Umar Sarki, Abdulkarim Dantani, Zubairu Moh’d, Zayanu Ladan, Jibril Garba and others presently at large,” the spokesman added. 

Similarly, some angry youths of Kafin-Koro district in Paikoro protested in Kafin-Koro town over the killing of Rev. Fr. Isaac Achi and during the protest, the rampaging youths invaded Kaffin-Koro police division and set the office ablaze with four vehicles and 10 motorcycles, including valuable public documents in the office.

The spokesman said the commissioner of police, Ogundele Ayodeji, immediately drafted a reinforcement team led by deputy commissioner, operations to the scene to restore normalcy and arrested 19 suspects.

He said during interrogation, the irate youths leader, Abdulkadir, identified all those who participated in the crime, and equally mentioned about 28 other suspects who are presently at large.

The command later released innocent persons who were erroneously arrested, as the actual suspects were identified by the leader.