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Crime & Punishment of Tuesday, 21 April 2020

Source: NAN

Police confirm killing of vigilance group leader in Kogi

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The Kogi Police Command has confirmed the killing of Mr Attah Isah, Chairman of Egume Community Vigilance Group in Dekina Local Government Area by armed men on Sunday evening.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Kogi Command, Mr Williams Aya (DSP), who made the confirmation on Tuesday in Lokoja, said Isah Enemaku, younger brother to the slain vigilance group chairman reported the incident.

The PPRO said that Enemaku had reported that the assailants came on a motorcycle, shot the victim twice and fled, adding that the deceased was rushed to the General Hospital, Eguma where he was confirmed dead.

Aya said the corpse had been deposited at the morgue for autopsy adding that the police were making efforts to arrest the perpetrators.

However, family sources said that the assailants who had monitored his movements during the day, later confronted the deceased in front of his house at Efakwu area in Egume while he was relaxing on a chair at about 8.00 pm.

The gunmen were said to have opened fire on him (Attah Isah) at a close range and before his family and friends could come out on hearing the gunshots, the assailants escaped on a standby motorbike.

The sources added that although the deceased appeared lifeless, the family had to rush him to the hospital where he was confirmed dead.

It would be recalled that the former chairman of the Vigilance group in Egume, Malam Attah Wada, aka Ukpono, was assassinated while praying in front of his house at Egume on May 27, 2014, at about 6.30 pm.

The same day, Chief Isah Edime, the Amana-Attah of Ojikpadala-Egume, and pioneer General Manager of Kogi State Broadcasting Corporation, suffered the same gruesome murder in the hands of hoodlums in the area who abducted and killed him.

Edime who also produced “Democracy in Action” at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) Kaduna, was kidnapped from his house and murdered the same day as Malam Attah Wada.

In his reaction, the National President of Egume Ome Descendants Union (EODU), Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim, expressed shock over the murder of Isah, describing the killing as inhuman, horrific and evil.

Ibrahim noted bitterly that it was a calculated attempt by criminals to reawaken the insecurity saga that had scared Egume sons and daughters in diaspora from visiting the home to contribute toward the development of their fatherland.

He, therefore, urged Gov. Yahaya Bello to wade in and on all security agencies to rise to the security challenge and bring all the perpetrators to justice.