Gunmen shoot Police area commander in Delta

Unknown gunmen on Sunday night reportedly attacked the Area Commander of the Ughelli Area Command of the Delta state police command, ACP Usman Ndanbabo, shooting him twice at close range.

Though reasons for the attack on the police chief could not be ascertained as at press time, The Nation recalls that crime rate within Ughelli town and its environs has been on the increase in the past couple of weeks with series of kidnappings and killings leading to regular patrols as well as stop and search operations by security operatives in the area.

“He was returning from an outing at about 8:00p.m in his Nissan SUV when he noticed that a Toyota car had been trailing him. He tried fleeing from his car when he got to the roundabout opposite the palace of the Ovie of Ughelli, along Isoko Road, but his assailants opened fire on him, shooting him on the back and his stomach and left him to die.

“He was immediately rushed to a private clinic at Ughelli for medical attention, but was referred to another private clinic in Warri for treatment owing to the gravity of the gunshot wounds,” a senior police officer at the command, who spoke on anonymous condition, revealed.

Confirming the incident, the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Zanna Ibrahim, told the Nation that reasons for the attack were still unknown and that Ndanbabo was already receiving medical attention from his gunshot wounds.

He said more details would become available as soon as the victim regains more of his strength, adding that the command was investigating the attack and would ensure that the hoodlums who attacked him were brought to book.

“I’ve just visited him in the hospital and he’s stabilising. No arrest has been made yet, that will depend on what he tells us about what happened and we cannot extract anything from him for now because he’s in the intensive care unit.

“Though we spoke to him, we wouldn’t want to stress him with so many questions for now, but by the time he’s out of the ICU we will be able to know exactly what happened because he was alone in the vehicle, he was driving alone. Only him can tell us what happened.”