A former commissioner of the National Population Commission in Nasarawa state, Zakari Umaru-Kigbu has been killed by gunmen who stormed his residence at Azuba Bashayi, Lafia Local Government Area on Saturday night.
The PUNCH gathered that the gunmen who shot sporadically in the air at about 11:40pm on Saturday, killed the 60-year-old Umaru-Kigbu and whisked away his two daughters to an unknown destination.
A source revealed that Umaru-Kigbu, who was a lecturer of the state-owned Isa Mustapha Agwai Polytechnic in Lafia, worked as an agent to a former Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, in the just-concluded Nasarawa state governorship primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Maku, however, had withdrawn from the race hours into the commencement of the governorship primary election.
“Mr Umaru-Kigbu was a peace-loving man. He has been privileged to hold several positions in this state. We don’t know who he might have offended which led to his untimely death. Everyone around him knows that he does not like trouble, so we are really shocked to receive such a sad news,” the source added.
Confirming the incident to our correspondent on Sunday, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, ASP Ramhan Nansel said officers of the command had been mobilised to the scene of the attack to restore normalcy and ensure the quick release of Umaru-Kigbu’s two daughters and to arrest the kidnappers.
Nansel said, “The Police Command recieved a distress call on Saturday night about the sad incident which took place at Azuba Bashayi, Lafia North Development Area in Lafia Local Government Area.
“We immediately deployed our patrol teams of the command and the military personnel also drafted it men to the scene of the incident to support the Nigeria Police Force so as to rescue his two daughters and arrest the prepetrators of the act.
“Umaru-Kigbu was rushed to the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia but unfortunately, he could not survive the bullet wound and he gave up the ghost at the hospital.”
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