Five gunmen suspected to be armed robbers yesterday attacked the palace of the Emir of Minna in Niger State and shot some guards and vigilantes. The hoodlums allegedly carted away N3.3 million from the palace.
They were said to have trailed Minna Emirate Councils’ cashier Ibrahim Sani to the palace gate and shot at the vigilante commander and two palace guards before carting away the money.
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It was gathered that the armed men trailed the vehicle going through popular Stadium Road at about 4 pm when the cashier was coming back from a commercial bank and opened fire at the vehicle in front of the Emir’s Palace.
It was learnt that Sani’s vehicle was trailed from a second generation commercial bank around Paiko road, through Stadium road to around Emir palace road and opened fire immediately when the cashier was about to enter the Emir’s palace.
An eye witness said, “Immediately the palace guards and a vigilante commander guarding the palace saw the men, they rushed out and tried to confront the men but they were shot at by the men, injuring two of the palace guards who were rushed to Minna General Hospital for treatment.”
The account revealed that “the bullet from the gunmen brushed off the vigilante commander, the bullet of the armed robbers could not penetrate him.”
It was further learnt that even the bravery of the vigilante commander could not stop the five men who were able to cart away N3.3 million from the cashier’s vehicle.
The police public relations officer in the state, Wasiu Abiodun confirmed to LEADERSHIP that “a gang of about five armed robbers reportedly trailed Minna palace cashier with a Toyota Camry vehicle from a commercial bank where he went to withdraw some amount of money.”
“He was blocked at the palace gate, and the robbers fired some gunshots in the air, while they forcefully took the money from him and escaped from the scene,” he said.
Abiodun said the cashier is undergoing interrogation at the Police Area Command office, Minna to ascertain the details of the incident.