March 16, 2024
A statement by the Kogi State Police Command, on the unfortunate incident regretted what it described as a grave error, adding that the lawyer was taken as an armed robber.
The police in Kogi State have said they killed an Enugu State-based lawyer, Elias Ugwu, who went to deliver a ransom in error and not the kidnappers.
A statement by the Kogi State Police Command, on the unfortunate incident regretted what it described as a grave error, adding that the lawyer was taken as an armed robber.
SaharaReporters had reported last week that Elias Ugwu, a popular Enugu lawyer who went to deliver a ransom to the kidnappers that abducted his cousin was gunned down last week Friday.
However, providing clarifications about the incident in a statement the Command's spokesman, SP Williams Anya, said the locals reported sighting the deceased and two other persons traversing the area where armed robbery took place few days earlier in a car.
Titled: “Setting the record straight," Anya said, “It would be recalled that, on 07/03/2024, armed robbers invaded Anyigba in the Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State and robbed three banks and also attacked police stations."
Following the incident, he continued "A tactical team was deployed to the area to restore normalcy and trail the hoodlums with a view to apprehending and bringing them to deserved justice.
“The tactical team received a report that some persons were sighted in a bush around Alade Village in the Dekina Local Government with an Ox-blood Toyota Avalon Car roaming up and down for two days or more asking the villagers for directions around the place where two vehicles and two motorcycles abandoned by the armed robbers were recovered."
He added, “The operatives promptly swung into action and in conjunction with the local vigilantes moved into the area. When they sighted the car already described by the villagers, they waved down the driver to stop but instead, zoomed off.
“In a bid to stop the car, shots were fired at the tyres of the car which brought it to a halt. It was then discovered that the car conveyed three persons (the driver and two others).
“The two men gave their names as Chidi Anieke and Elias Ugwu both of Nkanu and Ihiakpoka, Nsukka, while the driver was identified as Barrister Elias Ugwu. The driver sustained injury and was taken to the Maria Goretti Hospital Anyigba for treatment where he gave up the ghost. The two surviving men stated that they were in Alade bush in the Dekina local government for ransom payment to secure the release of a victim of kidnapping.
“They equally stated that they were not aware of the bank robbery that took place in Anyigba, Dekina Local gGovernment and that they did not report or inform the police of the alleged kidnap incident nor of their presence or mission in that area, hence they were suspected to be part of the hoodlums that invaded Anyigba on 7th March, 2024.
“The Commissioner of Police, Kogi State Police Command, extends his condolences to the family of the deceased over the unfortunate incident which was avoidable if they had stopped when they were waved down by the police who were with their patrol vehicle at the scene.”