The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Igarra Police Division, Headquarters of Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State, Suleiman Muhammed, was reportedly shot by suspected kidnappers on the Auchi-Igarra-Ibillo road in the state.

The incident, according to eye witness account, occurred last Tuesday at 7 p.m., and made commuters stranded until the local vigilante group came to evacuate the seriously injured officer, whose assailant’s had thought was dead, and cleared the road.

Narrating the incident yesterday, a member of the vigilance group from Igarra, who did not disclose his name, said the DPO was shot in the eyes, arm and stomach.

He added that he may have been shot with AK-47 riffle, as they recovered bullets and other cartridges from the scene of the attack.

According to the vigilante, “The DPO had earlier called us in the morning to a place where some suspected kidnappers (Yahoo boys) constituted nuisance.

Later, around 3 p.m., he told us that these suspected kidnappers were blocking the road, so we went there and chased them away. I was told that later in the evening after inspecting the change of guard, the DPO left in his Toyota Camry car to Auchi where his family resides.

The criminals laid ambush after a mast near Sasaro and shot him severally. I believe they thought he was dead and then abandoned him.

Their gunshots made motorists going to Auchi and coming from town to stop until we arrived at the scene in company of the police to rush the DPO to the hospital.

He was bleeding profusely because he was shot in the eyes, arm and stomach, and after stabilising him, he was rushed to Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital.

This morning (Wednesday) my colleagues and I went back to the scene, and we recovered used bullets, including those of AK-47 and other cartridges.

Another leader of the vigilance group from the area attributed the rising presence of kidnappers in that axis to a community on that road, which has been accused of renting part of its land to herdsmen for grazing.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Kontongs Bello, was said to be on an official assignment out of the state, but sources at the state police command said they were awaiting official details of the incident.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.