Gunmen Killed Julius Berger Engineer, Abduct Another at Shagamu
Unknown gunmen have killed one German national in Sagamu area of Ogun State in the South West Nigeria, police and construction firm Julius Berger confirmed the incident on Monday.
According to the report, the gunmen opened fire on two vehicles carrying German nationals at about 9.30am, in Sagamu area, as a result, one of the Germans was killed at the scene and another abducted.
“About four armed men emerged from the bush near Sagamu, in Ogun State, on Monday morning and attacked the construction company staff in the most brazen manner, that left witnesses stupefied, police spokesman Abimbola Oyeyemi told our Correspondent in a telephone interview.
“A bullet hit one German and he was confirmed dead on arrival at the hospital, while the hoodlums abducted another German.”
A Julius Berger source at the company’s Lagos office that pleaded anonymity added that the two Germans were traveling in two separate vehicles without their security escort.
Details of the tragic incident are still being expected as at the time of compiling this report. But a competent Police source revealed that the construction company and the locals have been having issues about some form of compensation over their properties allegedly consumed by road construction in the area.
Sources added that both company and the State government are yet to agree on how much to pay to the community as compensation. “While the company said it was willing to pay the sum of N50million, the State government was said not to be favourably disposed to such an amount as compensation. This is the point that angered the villagers, who promised the company would not continue with their work,” the source added.
Meanwhile, in a related development, an alleged clash between men of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and their Customs Service counterparts, has allegedly claimed one life, while two others sustained injury.
It was gathered from a Police source attached to the border patrol squad at Idiroko border, Ogun State that the incident happened at Kankan, a border community in Badagry, Lagos State. It was gathered that, the policemen were allegedly chasing criminals, until they got to the Customs officers’ check-point.
“We heard gunshots and we all took cover, thinking that it was armed robbers or smugglers that are firing the shots. But to our greatest dismay, when our team leader shouted at them that we are Customs officers, and that they should identify themselves, we did not hear anything again, rather what we heard was continuous gunshots, which hit two of our men. One of them died on the spot while the second person is still battling between life and death at the Hospital. It was after we shouted that they have killed a Customs officer that they emerged from the bush and identified themselves as Policemen attached to the border patrol squad.”
Kenneth Nwosu, spokesperson of the Lagos State Police command said he would need to check for details of the incident with the commander of the squad, before responding to our Correspondent’s inquest. But Customs spokesperson at Idiroko, Francis Ubanah, confirmed the development in a telephone chat. He added that the incident was embarrassing and condemnable, “ but I can assure you that we would investigate and bring perpetrators to justice.”