4 cops injured
We wanted to steal weapons from armoury –Suspect
From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
About 16 hoodlums armed with machetes and other dangerous weapons on Sunday night invaded Ogidi Police Divisional Headquarters in Idemili North Local Government Area, Anambra State, injuring the Divisional Police Officer, (DPO), Mr Hassan Musa and four other policemen.
Sources said the bandits who tied white bands on their heads stormed the station at about 9pm as they beat the armed policemen at the gate before forcing their way into the station from where they made straight to the counter where the DPO was attending to official matters.
They hit the DPO severally on the shoulder and hands together with four other policemen, causing them serious injuries.
Luck, however, ran out on one of the assailants as he was shot on the leg when they were escaping. He was arrested by the police.
The DPO is receiving treatment at a hospital in Ogidi.
The identities of the attackers and their motives have not been established though there were indications that the suspect said in a confessional statement that they were members of a splinter group of a newly-formed Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), from Asaba, Delta State capital. He said they came to steal weapons from the Amoury.
The state Commissioner of Police, Sam Okaula, described the incident as unfortunate noting that a few criminals cannot undermine the relentless efforts of the command to maintain a near crime-free Anambra.
He said the police overpowered the gang, while investigations will determine whether the attackers were cultists. He advised residents not to panic, assuring that the command is on top of the situation
Reacting to the incident, the former provost of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Idemili branch, Pat Agbata, said the attack was barbaric and a deliberate act to harm the innocent DPO and his men.