Tension gripped residents of the Bayan Gari area in Bauchi metropolis on Friday night as police officers on patrol reportedly clashed with soldiers attached to Operation Safe Haven, Jos, leading to the fatal shooting of a police officer.
Confirming the incident, the spokesperson for the Bauchi State Police Command, CSP Ahmed Wakil, in a statement issued on Saturday, said the command received a distress report around 10:35pm concerning a “serious incident involving a patrol team led by Inspector Hussaini Samaila during a routine patrol at Bayan Gari.”
According to him, “the patrol team encountered an assault on one of its members, Constable Ukasha Muhammed (F/No 533164), by two individuals in front of a hotel. The team responded swiftly, arresting one of the assailants while the other escaped.”
Wakil identified the arrested suspect as Private Usman Mubarak (23NA/84/5346), a soldier attached to the Special Task Force, Operation Safe Haven, Jos, Plateau State.
He added, “At about 11:05pm, two other soldiers—Private Yakubu Yahuza (23NA/85/10185) and Private Godspower Gabriel (23NA/84/5654), both partially dressed in military uniforms and armed with rifles, confronted the police team and shot Constable Ukasha Muhammed in the left chest before fleeing the area.”
The injured officer was rushed to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, where medical personnel confirmed him dead.
“The remains of the deceased have been deposited at the hospital mortuary, while the two soldiers have been apprehended and are in police custody,” Wakil said, adding that the command had launched an investigation to ensure justice is served.
It would be recalled that in August, a police officer attached to the Bauchi Command allegedly shot a soldier at a checkpoint in the Alkaleri area of the state while on escort duty with a mining company.
The police had also announced an ongoing investigation into that incident.
