The Kaduna State Police Command on Monday confirmed the killing of four commuters, including an ex-commissioner by unknown gunmen along the Kaduna-Abuja expressway.
It also said five others were injured in the incident which occurred around 6.30 p.m. on Sunday close to Gidan Busa village.
In a statement signed by the command’s spokesperson, Muktar Aliyu, the police said the gunmen opened fire indiscriminately at vehicles.
He explained that the command received a distress call on Monday that a group of unidentified armed men had blocked the highway and were shooting at vehicles.
“In a swift response, policemen stormed the scene and the bandits were dislodged but sadly they had already killed four commuters and injured five others in their dastardly act
“Normalcy has been restored on the road with commuters moving safely without molestation,” he said.
It was gathered that one of the persons killed was the immediate past Commissioner for Education, Katsina State, Halima Idris.
The professor was reportedly shot with the bullet penetrated into her chest.
The husband, Abdullahi Mu’azu, told PREMIUM TIMES how his wife died Sunday night at a clinic close to Kaduna.
According to him, he was driving the vehicle when the incident occurred.
“I was driving the car with my wife, late Professor Halima sitting beside me on the passenger seat when the gunmen opened fire on the car.
“We saw them at the centre of the road about 80-90 kilomiters to Kaduna with guns and there was no roadblock or any object on the main road to indicate they wanted us to stop. Besides, they didn’t flag us down, they only opened fire on vehicles on sight.
“Unfortunately a bullet came through the door she was sitting and hit her on the shoulder. The bullet penetrated into her chest. When we got to a nearby clinic, the nurses said she lost a lot of blood. She (my wife) asked for pain reliever but the nurses said they can’t give her anything because she lost lot of blood. That was how she died,” he said.
PREMIUM TIMES also spoke with the Deputy Governor of Katsina State, Mannir Yakubu, who visited the family at their residence in Unguwar Sarki to sympathise.
”We are saddened with the news of her death. We pray for Allah to grant her jannatul Firdausi ( Paradise),” he said.
The deceased has been buried according to Islamic rites.