The Nigeria Police Force, Zone 10 Command, Sokoto, has withheld the identities of the five police officers killed by suspected bandits along the Sokoto-Gusau highway, saying notification of their families was ongoing.
The Zonal Public Relations Officer, DSP Abdullahi Faruk Ambursa, told LEADERSHIP in Sokoto that the Command would not release the names of the deceased until their next-of-kin had been formally contacted.
He said, “I cannot give details of the development or the identities of the victims for now until after the investigation. We await a detailed report. Their remains have been deposited at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH) morgue.”
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 as the deceased.
A security source told LEADERSHIP that publishing the names before official family notification would violate police tradition and ethical standards.
LEADERSHIP reports that the five officers were part of a team travelling in a Zamfara State mass transit bus, popularly known as Bazamfara, from Sokoto to Gusau 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 , November 2, along the Gidan Kano-Kwanar Sado axis in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State, leading to the death of five officers while five others sustained varying degrees of injuries.
The police said investigation into the attack had commenced and that efforts were ongoing to apprehend the perpetrators.
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