Local Miscreants, Not Boko Haram, Attacked Soldiers’ Convoy In Kogi – Police

The Force Headquarters has disclosed that local miscreants fired at a convoy of soldiers passing through Kogi State last Sunday and not Boko Haram members as wrongly insinuated in most media reports.

A statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, on Tuesday in Abuja, said the miscreants had fired into the air in a bid to force the buses to stop and rob the passengers, not knowing that the occupants were soldiers.

The Police image maker said the soldiers responded with gunshots, which forced the suspected robbers to flee into the surrounding bush.

Ojukwu, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, explained that on hearing about the incident, policemen from the Kogi State Command swiftly mobilised to the spot where two empty cartridges of locally-made pistol was recovered.

He said, "The true position of the whole scenario was that on Sunday night, about 2030hrs (8.30pm), a group of soldiers, travelling through Kogi State, in private luxurious buses, encountered a group of local miscreants, who fired into the air so that the buses would be forced to stop, in an attempt to possibly rob them, not knowing that the occupants of the buses were soldiers.

"The soldiers immediately responded by returning fire and the hoodlums took to their heels and ran into the bush. Information on the firing got to the police, who quickly mobilised to the scene and carried out intensive combing of the bush, where the hoodlums, fled into.

"All efforts to trace and arrest the fleeing hoodlums, proved abortive, but are continuing. However, two empty cartridges of locally made pistol, were recovered from the scene. For absolute clarity, Boko Haram members did not ambush any group of 850 soldiers, on Sunday, September 14, 2014".