Zamfara: Police Withhold Identities Of 5 Slain Officers, Families To Be Notified

The Nigeria Police Force’s Zone 10 Command in Sokoto has withheld the identities of five police officers killed by suspected bandits along the Sokoto–Gusau highway, saying their families are still being notified.

The zonal public relations officer, DSP Abdullahi Faruk Ambursa, told *LEADERSHIP* in Sokoto on Monday that the Command would not release the officers’ names until their next of kin had been formally contacted.

“I cannot give details of the incident or the victims’ identities for now, pending an investigation. We are awaiting a detailed report. Their remains have been deposited at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH) mortuary,” he said.

*LEADERSHIP* gathered that an internal police situation report (SITREP), purportedly listing the names of the deceased officers, was circulating on social media.

The report, which the Command has not officially confirmed, listed an assistant superintendent of police (ASP), two inspectors, an operator and a corporal among the deceased.

A security source told *LEADERSHIP* that publishing the names before the families had been officially notified would breach police tradition and ethical standards.

*LEADERSHIP* reports that the five officers were part of a team travelling from Sokoto to Gusau in a Zamfara State mass transit bus, popularly known as *Bazamfara*. They were to provide security for the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election for Zamfara North Senatorial District in Kaura Namoda Local Government Area.

The bus was ambushed on Monday, 2 November, along the Gidan Kano–Kwanar Sado axis in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State. Five officers were killed and five others sustained injuries of varying severity.

The police said an investigation into the attack had begun and efforts to apprehend those responsible were under way.