Gunmen on early Friday morning killed a police man on duty after using an explosive device to burn down a Police Area Command Office at Eika-Ohizenyi in Okehi Local Government Area of Kogi State.
According to an eye witness account by a resident of the area, Mallam Momoh Abubakar, gunmen stormed the police station around 12:15am.
He said explosive devices suspectsed to be bombs and other weapons were used by the gunmen.
He said: “The first bomb they threw into the station made a heavy sound that woke up many residents. The explosives brought down part of the police station.
“For more two hours they operated without being challenged. They really had a field day. Everyone nwas scared and couldn’t do anything. After the attack, the only police officer on duty, Jibril popularly known as Yellow, was killed.
The only operational vehicle in the police station was also burnt down. Before the gunmen left the community, they shattered windows of Eika Central Mosque and a Catholic Church near the police station.
Meanwhile, confirming the attack on the police station, the Public Relations Officer for the state Police Command Police, William Aya, said part of the Area Command Office was burnt down by the gunmen.
The police spokeman, who disclosed that a dynamite was used by the bandits during the incident, said: “A police inspector died in the exchange of fire with the hoodlums, before the Area Commander and a detachment of military troop reinforced to the area and the gunmen on sighting them fled.”
Also, the Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Edward Egbuka, in a reaction to the incident, said he had deployed the tactical security team, including the Police Mobile Force, Counter Terrorism Unit, Quick Response Unit, State Intelligence Bureau in synergy with other security agencies to restore normalcy to the area.
