IT was like a scene from an action-packed movie. A judge adjourns an alleged robbery and kidnapping case, ordering the suspect to be remanded in prison custody. The court rises and a prison warder leads the accused out of the courtroom. Suddenly, gun shots ring out. There is pandemonium, with litigants and court officials running for dear lives. By the time the dust settles minutes after, the prison warder lies dead. Gone is the accused. Also gone are the gunment. It was no movie, but real on Wednesday in Kogi State where unknown gunmen suspected to be members of a robbery gang whose member was standing trial attacked the Ihima High Court. The Media Officer of the State High Court, Mr Saqeeb Saeed, in Ihima, Okehi Local Government Area, confirmed yesterday that the attack took place on Wednesday. He said Justice Moses Gwatana had adjourned the case against Abdulrazak Nasiru, who was ordered to be remanded in prison custody. The accused was released to an official to take to the Okene Medium Security Prison in a Nigeria Prisons Service pick-up van. Saeed said before the van took off, the attackers, numbering between 10 and 12, apparently lurking around a primary school near the court, stormed the premises, wielding dangerous weapons and shooting indiscriminately.
“They shot dead the warder whose name was not immediately known and released the accused while the court officials, litigants and helpless security agents, scampered for safety during the operation that lasted 10 minutes,” he said. The News Agency Nigeria (NAN) learnt that although the judge escaped unhurt, his official KIA Sorento SUV was sprayed with bullets. Mr Bakare Sunday was shot in the ear. Saeed said the body of the prison official had been deposited at the Obangede General Hospital mortuary. The court registrar has been admitted in the hospital for bullet wounds. Kogi State High Court Chief Registrar Mrs Comfort Toluwashe has lodged a complaint with the police, saying the accused was initially involved in an armed robbery in which a man was kidnapped.
Culled from the Nation
Hell was let loose yesterday in Ihima, Okehi Local Government Area of Kogi State when dare devil robbers stormed a High Court, killed a prison official and set free a robbery suspect, Abdulrazak Nasiru who was standing trial in the court. An eyewitness told Daily Sun that the gunmen had hid in a nearby primary school until the court session ended when they struck, opening fire on the vehicle conveying the accused Nasiru, believed to be a member of the gang, away from the court premises to the prison. The incident occured at about 12.30 pm when the High Court Judge, Justice Moses Gwatana had adjourned the case of kidnapping and armed robbery levelled against the suspect who was ordered to be remanded in prison custody. Immediately the accused left the courtroom to be moved to the Okene Medium Security Prison in the official Toyota pick-up van of the Nigeria Prisons Service, the gunmen surged forward and fired sporadic gunshots, killing the prison official instantly. The gunmen who were said to be numbering up to 12 also opened fire on the vehicle of the High Court judge who was said to have escaped miraculously from the scene, but his official vehicle, a KIA Sorento utility car was riddled with bullets. However, the Court Registrar, Sunday Bakare, was unlucky as a bullet was said to have hit him in the left ear. The robbers escaped with the accused person, fleeing in two vehicles. Within the 10 minutes the operation lasted, the entire court premises and environs were thrown in confusion as both litigants, lawyers, court staff and passersby scampered for safety. As at the time of filing in this report the name of the deceased prison official could not be ascertained but sources said his remains had been deposited at the Obangede General Hospital mortuary. The court registrar is in critical condition and said to be receiving treatment in a private hospital. The gang, it was gathered, might have been responsible for series of robberies and kidnapping incidents in the state. Meanwhile, the state High Court Chief Registrar, Mrs. Comfort Toluwashe had lodged a complaint with the police at the state command on the incident, just as anti-crime detectives were said to have launched a hunt for the dare-devil gang.
Culled from Sun.
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