Police escort attached to the officials of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and ad hoc staff on Sunday March 19, 2023, had a fierce exchange of gunfire with armed hoodlums who attacked them at Obajana, Kogi State.
Thenewsbearer learnt that the incident occurred while INEC officials and the police escorts were on their way from Kupa North and South Wards to the Collation Centre in Lokoja.
The command’s Police Public Relations Officer, SP William Ovye Aya, who confirmed this said that the police team responded swiftly and were reinforced by other teams after a distress call.
They reportedly engaged the attackers in a gun duel which made them to flee with varying degrees of injuries as a result of superior fire power of the police.
“The Commissioner of Police in charge of election in Kogi State, Yekini Ayoku, led rescue team to the scene for on-the-spot assessment. He later led the evacuation of the 96 rescued victims comprising INEC officials, as hoc staff, bus drivers and others to the INEC headquarters in Lokoja,” the PPRO stated, adding that three injured victims were evacuated to the Federal Medical center Lokoja for treatment.
The Commissioner of Police was also said to have ordered the deployment of operational and tactical assets of the Force to embark on thorough combing of the general area with a view to apprehending the attackers and to rescue the two victims yet to be accounted for.
The CP further tasked the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Criminal Investigation Department to commence thorough investigation that would lead to the arrest of the miscreants in order to bring them to justice.
CP Ayoku commended the gallantry displayed by the men of the Force, while he urged members of the public, particularly the adjoining communities, to be on the lookout and report anyone seen with bullet wounds to the nearest security formation or agencies.
He assured the public that the police would not rest on its oars in the fight against criminality.
