From Okey Sampson, Aba
Cattle dealers in Aba, Abia State, were on Wednesday thrown into mourning when gunmen, numbering about four, reportedly killed one of their colleagues at the busy Bata Junction.
It was gathered that the hoodlums made away with N5 million cash belonging to the cattle dealer, who stays at the popular Waterside Meat Market.
A source at the Aba abattoir said: “I was not there when it happened, but we were told that two men were going to the bank to deposit money after the day’s sales in one of the banks around Bata Junction when the armed men attacked them.
“The gunmen, we were told, collected the money, which we later learnt was about N5 million. People around the area told us that the gunmen trailed the cattle dealers from the abattoir to the bank, and after collecting the money they left.
“One of the gunmen, who feared that he could be exposed by the victim after they had eye contact, was said to have come down from the commercial tricycle to shoot him in the forehead before they drove off.”
The incident caused panic in the area, as passers-by and commuters scampered for safety while the gunmen shot sporadically into the air to disperse people as they made their escape.
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Geoffrey Ogbonna, did not respond to calls to his phone and was yet to respond to a text message sent to his phone by the time of going to press. But a police source in Aba confirmed the incident, stating that the police were investigating the matter.