As Police in Rivers kill kidnapper of slain doctor
Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt and Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi
The commanding officer in charge of Mopol 10 PMF, Bauchi, SP Chris L Eza, was on Thursday night shot and killed by a police corporal in Bauchi.
This is as the police in Rivers State said they have killed one of the leaders of the kidnap gang that abducted and killed Dr. Samuel Okpara in Port Harcourt.
According to a statement made available to journalists in Bauchi Friday by the Bauchi State police command's Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Haruna Mohammed, SP Eza, was shot by the corporal at about 11:20pm while on routine visit to a stop and search point on the Ahmadu Bello way in Bauchi metropolis.
"On the 26/2/2015 at about 23:20hrs, the commanding officer Mopol 10 PMF Bauchi, SP Chris L Eza, was shot by a police corporal while on routine visit at the stop and search point along Ahmadu Bello way, Bauchi," the police image maker, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said.
According to him, SP Eza was rushed to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) in Bauchi, where he was certified dead by a doctor, adding that his corpse had been deposited at the mortuary of the hospital for post-mortem examination.
The police spokesman added that the state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed K Mohammed, with his management team had visited the scene of the incident and ordered a full scale investigation into the matter.
Meanwhile, the PPRO said that the suspect had since been arrested and detained.
A security source, however, told THISDAY that the deceased mobile police officer ordered the corporal to surrender his rifle over to him, but that the junior officer refused.
The source added that the corporal based his refusal on the fact that surrendering his official rifle to the commanding officer was against service rule.
It was learnt that the deceased had left the scene but later returned to make same demand of the corporal, who insisted that he was going to shoot anyone who moved near him. A threat he eventually carried out when the deceased was said to have moved near him.
The source further said that the corporal on shooting SP Eza, reported himself at the station and surrendered himself for detention.
Meanwhile, the police in Rivers State have said they have killed one of the leaders of a gang of kidnappers that abducted and killed Dr. Samuel Okpara in Port Harcourt.
The police said the suspect was killed in a gun duel with the kidnappers at Obite Waterfront in Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Okpara, a medical doctor who was abducted last week, died in the hands of his kidnappers and his remains dumped in a cassava farm at Government Comprehensive Secondary School, Borokiri, Port Harcourt.
The State Police Commissioner, Mr. Dan Bature, yesterday told doctors who were protesting against the death of Okpara and the incessant abduction of medical doctors in Rivers State that his men engaged the hoodlums in a shootout at about 5am.
Bature disclosed that a police corporal was injured during the gun duel that lasted for several minutes, promising that efforts have been intensified to rescue kidnap victims, who were still held hostage by kidnappers.
“The police yesterday at about 5am killed one of their (kidnappers) gang leaders. The kidnappers injured one of our men during the shootout. We trailed them to their hideout and a shootout ensued,” Bature said.
Meanwhile, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sampson Parker, has condemned the continued abduction of medical doctors operating in the state.
Parker, who expressed shock over the death of Okpara in the hands of his (Okpara) captors, said some of the doctors were taken away by kidnappers from the theatre.
His words: “The recent spate of kidnapping of doctors and health workers, which led doctors to march and later meet with the state governor last week, has become a matter of grave concern.
“Yesterday, one of the kidnapped doctors, Dr. Samuel Okpara, was killed and dumped in a cassava farm. This morning, doctors in the state, under the auspices of the Nigerian Medical Association, marched in protest to the Directorate of State Services and the State Police Command.
“In the last six months, doctors have been kidnapped, some of them from their place of work, and even dragged from their operating theatres. Two are still in their custody."
Meanwhile, doctors in the state under the auspices of the NMA have said they have embarked on a seven-day mourning of their colleague, Okpara, who died five days after he was kidnapped in the den of his abductors.
The Chairman of NMA in the state, Dr. Furo Green, said Okpara was forcefully taken from his office by gunmen last week only for his remains to be found at a cassava farm in Borokiri, five days after.
He said, "Adewale Olugbenga and Jack Ohvunda Omodu were tortured, beaten with rods and hammers and denied food and, water, and medication and eventually shot and released. The last of them, Dr. Sam Okpara, who was kidnapped on Wednesday, February 18, 2015 died in the hands of captors after five days in captivity and his body was dumped in a cassava farm at Borokiri axis of Port Harcourt, precisely behind Comprehensive School.”
The chairman further said four medical doctors have also received kidnap threats from unknown persons. He said that doctors in the state are no longer safe to practice.
“As I speak with you four other doctors have received threats of kidnap. We have taken our faith in our own hands. We have protested to the Government House and met with heads of security agencies in the state and we are assured that operations and strategies against criminality and violence will be stepped up to secure everyone.
“However these promises are yet to be translated to visible actions. Security operatives on our waterways are primarily interested in the sharing of profits from stolen crude oil than bother with the security of the citizens," he said.was in progress.
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