Gunmen In ‘Repentant’ Bandits Hilux In Kill Army Major, Injure Two Soldiers
LAGOS JANUARY 20TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Gunmen suspected to be bandits have killed a senior army officer, Major J.F. London, in Zamfara State.
A military source confirmed to SaharaReporters that London was killed during an ambush set up for Nigerian soldiers at Janbako town in the Maradun Local Government Area of the state on Sunday.
The source said the attackers came in a Hilux vehicle and motorcycles given to repentant bandits by Governor Bello Matawalle.
Two other soldiers were also injured during the attack.
The soldiers were said to be on their way to restore peace at Janboko after bandits invaded the community.
Remains of killed senior army officer, J.F. London.
SaharaReporters had exposed how about 15 brand new Hilux vehicles were given to leaders of different ‘repentant’ banditry groups by the governor.
The governor also approved millions of naira to be given to the ‘repentant’ bandits as compensation.
“A senior military officer and a top commander of the Joint Task Force (JTF) here in Zamfara State, J.F. London, was the one killed by bandits in Janboko on Sunday,” the source said.
“The gunmen came in one of those Hilux vehicles given to leaders of different repentant banditry groups in Zamfara State by Governor Bello Muhammad Matawalle.
“They were later resisted by the local vigilantes, so they fled and left behind the Hilux vehicle and the motorcycles they came with.”
In reaction, the Zamfara State Government has denied the report that it gave Hilux trucks to “repentant bandits’’ in the state.
Addressing journalists in his office on Tuesday, the state Commissioner for Security and Home Affairs, Alhaji Abubakar Dauran, described the report as “unfounded’’.
“This is certainly untrue, a fabrication of the writer and an unfounded statement meant to smear the effort of Gov. Bello Matawalle and the effort of his administration in handling security issues in the state.
“You know it will look foolish to any right-thinking mind to say that the government that recently purchased and donated 200 Hilux vans to ease the operations of security agencies in the state will also give vehicles to bandits under whatever guise of arrangement,” the commissioner pointed out.
He said that the discreet investigation carried out by the state government showed that the false report did not emanate from any of the security agencies operating in the state, as contained in the online media report.
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