Gunmen snatch N9.5m from Chief Accountant of Niger Head of Service

Hell was let lose in Minna, Niger State Capital on Monday, when Gunmen numbering about four attacked the Chief Accountant from the office of the Head of Service and carted away over N9.5 million.

The situation paralysed economic activities of Minna for over two hours as commuters and motorists took to their heels for their lives.

The Chief Accountant, Idris Abdullahi, was said to have been returning from one of the commercial banks in Minna at about 10.30 am where he went to withdraw the money.

It was learnt that the money was for the overhead fund meant for the office of Head of Service.

An eyewitness told our correspondent that the gunmen blocked the car of the Chief Accountant immediately he got to the gate of the Secretariat, started shooting sporadically and removed the money from the car of the Chief accountant before zooming off.

The shooting caused havoc as everyone, including the security and vigilantes in the Secretariat, started running for dear lives.

The Eyewitness also said that the gunmen drove their car towards the Custom office along the western bye-pass where the vehicle developed a fault and they abandoned it and hijacked another vehicle and zoomed off to an unknown destination.

Efforts to get the Office of the Head of Service to comment on the matter proved abortive as at the time of filing this report.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammad Abubakar, when contacted confirmed the incident, saying the operatives are trailing the armed robbers.

Abubakar said, “we have dispatched the information to all our units in the command to be on alert. We are on top of the situation.”

PUNCH