Three policemen posted to provide security for fun seekers at the Ogba Zoo and Nature Park in Oredo local government area of Edo State have been killed by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers.

The three policemen were killed at about 6pm while their arms and ammunition were collected by the attackers.

Director and Chief Executive of the Ogba Zoo and Nature Park, Dr. Andy Ehanire, was abducted by the gunmen.

It was gathered that the killing disrupted activities at the zoo as many fun seekers scampered for safety.

Edo State police spokesman, DSP Moses Nkombe, who confirmed the killings and abduction on the phone said the situation has been brought under control.

DSP Nkombe said the attackers would soon be arrested as security has been beefed up in the area.

He assured members of the public that the zoo is safe for fun seekers. </s> One of the Ogba Zoo staff has revealed that the gunmen that killed three police officers and abducted the Executive Director of the zoo, Dr. Andy Ehanire, in the Edo State capital on Sunday, tricked the murdered policemen with beer.

The staff told Vanguard that the assailants came as fun seekers.

The Ogba Zoo and Nature Park was attacked on Sunday by unknown gunmen leaving three police officers dead.

According to the staff, “after I finished my morning duties, people began to enter the zoo. At this time, my boss had not come.

“When he came at about 1p.m., I went to tell him that I had a birthday party to attend and he gave me permission to go.

“I left for the birthday, hoping to come back to resume duty later in the day.

“When I eventually came back at about 6p.m., I met three policemen lying dead on the ground. I was shocked. I saw people running for safety and the boss being taken away. It was those we met at the scene that told us what happened.

“They said one of the kidnappers paid to enter the zoo with worn out money, which was rejected by the cashier at the gate. When the money was rejected, he went back to get a better money to pay.

“At this time, their informants had already gained entrance into the zoo as fun seekers. When the informants finally studied the terrain, one of them decided to engage our director in conversation.

“Our boss started telling him his plans to put up a world tourism day. As one of them engaged my boss in a conversation, the other one went straight to the security personnel and asked them if they had not closed for the day. They decided to order for drinks for the officers.

“So, they bought the officers beer and as they dropped their guns to drink, the hoodlums opened fire on them, killing them instantly.

“We have not heard any information about the whereabouts of our boss.” </s> The Federal Government has condemned the attack on the Ogba Zoo and Nature Park in Benin, the Edo State capital.

Gunmen had stormed the zoo on Sunday evening, killing three policemen, abducting the Head of the Zoo, Andy Ehanire, and leaving many shocked over the attack.

”The killing of the three policemen attached to the zoo to provide security for fun seekers, the abduction of the zoo boss and the trauma suffered by the visitors who witnessed the attack are saddening, condemnable and most unfortunate,” the Minister of Culture, Lai Mohammed, was said.

The Minister added that the attack dealt a blow to the country’s tourism sector.

”The success or failure of a tourism destination depends largely on a safe and secure environment,” he was quoted as saying in a statement by his Special Adviser, Mr Segun Adeyemi.

“Incidences such as the attack on the Ogba Zoo and Nature Park, therefore, negate the concept of tourism as well as government’s determination to develop our tourism industry as a tool for socio-economic development.”

In view of that attack, the Federal Government plans to “step up security in all the tourist sites across the country in particular in order to prevent a recurrence”.

Mr Mohammed called on the abductors of the Zoo head to release him unharmed.

He also sent his condolences to the families of the policemen who were killed in the attack, and prayed that God will grant repose to their

 souls. </s> Image copyright Ogba Zoo & Park Image caption The Ogba Zoo was described as one of Nigeria's top tourist destinations

Three policemen have been killed by gunmen who attacked a zoo in Nigeria's mid-western Edo State, the police have told the BBC.

The gunmen also abducted the head of the zoo, after they stormed the 750-acre Ogba Zoo and Nature Park.

The information minister has condemned the attack, describing it as a big blow to efforts to promote tourism.

According to a police spokesman, Sunday's incident occurred in the presence of more than 200 visitors.

There is no information on who the gunmen and abductors are, or whether they have made any demands.

Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed described the zoo as one of Nigeria's top tourist destinations.

He called on the abductors of zoo director Andy Ehanire to quickly release him unharmed.

Mr Mohammed said that security at all tourist sites across the country would be stepped up. </s> The Federal Government has condemned the attack on Ogba Zoo and Nature Park in Benin, Edo State, on Sunday, during which three policemen were killed and the Head of the Zoo, Dr. Andy Ehanire, was abducted by the attackers.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who made the government’s position known in a statement issued on Monday, described the attack on one of the country’s foremost tourist destinations as a big blow to ongoing efforts to lift the tourism sector in the country.

He said, ”The success or failure of a tourism destination depends largely on a safe and secure environment. Incidences such as the attack on the Ogba Zoo and Nature Park therefore negate the concept of tourism as well as government’s determination to develop our tourism industry as a tool for socio-economic development.

”The killing of the three policemen attached to the zoo to provide security for fun seekers, the abduction of the zoo boss and the trauma suffered by the visitors who witnessed the attack are saddening, condemnable and most unfortunate.”

Mohammed said the government will step up security in the entire tourist sites in the country in order to prevent a recurrence, while urging the abductors of Ehanire to quickly release him unharmed.

He also sent his condolences to the families of the policemen who were killed in the attack, and prayed that God will grant repose to their souls. </s> The Federal Government has condemned the attack on the Ogba Zoo and Nature Park in Benin, Edo State, on Sunday, during which three policemen were killed and the Head of the Zoo, Dr. Andy Ehanire, was abducted by the attackers.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who made the government’s position known in a statement on Monday, described the attack on one of the country’s foremost tourist destinations as a big blow to ongoing efforts to lift the tourism sector in the country.

He said, ‘’The success or failure of a tourism destination depends largely on a safe and secure environment. Incidents such as the attack on the Ogba Zoo and Nature Park therefore negate the concept of tourism as well as government’s determination to develop our tourism industry as a tool for socio-economic development.

‘’The killing of the three policemen attached to the zoo to provide security for fun seekers, the abduction of the zoo boss and the trauma suffered by the visitors who witnessed the attack are saddening, condemnable and most unfortunate.’’

Mohammed said the government would step up security in the entire tourist sites in the country in order to prevent a recurrence, while urging the abductors of Ehanire to quickly release him unharmed.

He also sent his condolences to the families of the deceased.

Copyright PUNCH. 

 All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH. </s> A staff of the Ogba Zoological Garden and Natural Park in Benin, Helen Juchei, has narrated how three policemen were shot dead by yet to be identified gunmen, after buying them beer.

Recall that the gunmen also abducted the Director of the Zoo, Andy Ehanire, the younger brother to the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, and a former Senator and wife of a retired army General, Daisy Danjuma.

Speaking to The News, Juchei who was on duty on the fateful Sunday, said funseekers who witnessed the incident, confirmed that the assailants bought three bottles of Heineken beer for their victims before shooting them, after the policemen carelessly laid their gun on the ground to drink their beer.

“Yesterday after I finished my normal duty in the morning, people were just entering the Zoo. And at this time, my boss has not come. We usually come before our boss and when he eventually came at about 1 pm, it was now my turn to take over my duty, I went to tell him that I was having a birthday party to attend and that was how he granted me the permission and I left for the birthday hoping to come back to assume duty later in the day. “When I eventually came back at about 6 pm, I met three policemen lying dead on the ground. I was very shocked and what I saw after was people running for safety and the boss taken away. It was those whom we met at the scene that told us what happened “They said the kidnappers paid to enter the Zoo with a torn money which was rejected by the casher at the gate. When the money was rejected, he went back to get a better money to pay the entrance fee. “At this time, their informant have already gained entrance into the Zoo as fun seeker. When the informants had finally studied the terrain, one of the informants decided to engage our director in conversation.

“Our boss started telling him his plans to put up a world tourism day. As one of them engaged my boss in a conversation, the other one went straight to the security personnel and asked him if they have not closed for the day and decided to order for drinks for the officers providing security for the Zoo. “This was what those who were there told us. So they bought them Heineken and as they laid down their guns to drink, that was when the hoodlums opened fire on them and killed the three police officers. We have not heard any information about the whereabouts of our boss,” she narrated.

Another staff of the Zoo, Mr. Zontondji Emmanuel, narrated how the hoodlums shot the police officers.

“I was on duty, I resumed by 5:30 pm and as I came in, I went round to inspect the animals and the visitors on ground. And after having done that, I came back to the reception where the Executive Director was sitting down and there was another one sitting at this end. There were two policemen sitting by him. So I went outside to observe the outside. “At the outside, I saw an Audi 80 Car parked and suddenly, I saw three men coming out with guns and one of them wearing a bullet proof vest and I thought that they were normal police who usually come here for normal security reasons. “Suddenly, I saw them running into the zoo premises which is very unusual and when they entered, they started shooting immediately. So, all of us outside started running for our dear lives. I was calling on people running to give us police numbers, nobody was ready to stop because they were all afraid. “But at the time I watched from afar and I saw that the men were going out with my Director. They went into the Audi Car and zoomed away. I now came into the Zoo premises and I saw the three policemen who were supposed to be guarding the director were lying dead on the ground. After that, the DPO now came to take the dead bodies away,” Emmanuel said. Meanwhile, the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Haliru Gwandu promised that efforts are being made to fish out the hoodlums. Briefing newsmen during an on-the-spot assessment visits to the Zoo, Gwandu said the killers of the three police officers as militants. “It was an unfortunate incidence. We lost three of our personnel. This is the activities of the militants because of the high sea now. They came and unfortunately killed our policemen, but we are on the trail of the hoodlums. We are able to recover the vehicles they used to perpetrate the act. We are using all the available means including the high tech to fish out the perpetrators. “They cannot go scot free. Let me assure the general public in Edo State that we are on top of the situation and that they should go about their normal duty. All hands are on deck to ensure that the hoodlums are fished out,” he said. </s> Gunmen have killed 26 people in northern Nigeria's Zamfara state, in the latest in a series of attacks blamed on cattle thieves, a local official said Friday.

Men on motorcycles attacked gold miners near Kuru-Kuru village in Anka district late Thursday and clashed with residents from a nearby village who had mobilised in anticipation of the assault.

"We buried 26 people killed in the two attacks by the armed bandits," chairman of Anka local government Mustapha Gado Anka told AFP.

"The victims were miners from Kuru-Kuru that were attacked and residents of Jarkuka village who had come to help their neighbours," Anka said.

He said the assailants ambushed the group of volunteers from Jarkuka who had come to help.

Zamfara state police spokesman Mohammed Shehu confirmed the attack, but declined to give details "until after the police commissioner is briefed".

The killings were the latest round of tit-for-tat attacks by cattle thieves on farming communities in the state.

Last month, at least 36 people were killed in a similar fashion in nearby Bawar-Daji.

Gunmen on motorbikes invaded the village and opened fire on mourners who had gone to a cemetary to bury victims of a previous attack.

For several years, rural communities in the agrarian state have been under siege from gangs of cattle rustlers who carry out deadly raids on herding communities to kill, loot and burn homes.

In the absence of a robust police force and effective judicial system in Nigeria, villagers have created local vigilante groups to fight off the gangs.

But the vigilantes are equally responsible for the bloodshed and are also accused of extra-judicial killings.

Residents said the intensification of the attacks was because locals were cooperating with soldiers sent to quell the attacks.

"People have been cooperating with soldiers sent to fight the bandits and we believe this is why they have been launching renewed attacks," a resident told AFP.

In early April, the Nigerian air force deployed special forces to the state to reinforce troops on the ground fighting the bandits.

Following the Bawar-Daji attack, state governor Abdulaziz Yari ordered troops to shoot on sight anyone found with a gun in the area.

Nigeria, West Africa's largest economy, is battling an array of security concerns across the country, from Boko Haram jihadists in the northeast to oil militants in the south.

President Muhammadu Buhari has deployed troops in many states to combat cattle rustlers and criminal gangs and try and contain clashes between herdsmen and farmers. </s> LAGOS, Nigeria — Gunmen ambushed two Americans and two Canadians traveling through the Nigerian state of Kaduna, kidnapping them and killing two police officers, a state police spokesman said Wednesday.

The visitors were heading south from Kafanchan in Kaduna to the capital, Abuja, on Tuesday night when they were ambushed around Kagarko, the Kaduna state police spokesman, Mukhtar Aliyu, said.

“The two police escorts attached to them engaged the kidnappers in a fierce gun battle, which resulted in the unfortunate death of the two police officers,” Mr. Aliyu said.

The Americans and Canadians are investors setting up solar stations in villages around Kafanchan, Mr. Aliyu said.

Security officers, including an anti-kidnapping unit, have been sent to the area to try to rescue the abductees, he said.

Kidnappings for ransom are common in Nigeria, especially on the Kaduna-to-Abuja highway. Last year, two German archaeologists were seized at gunpoint less than 60 miles northeast of Abuja and later freed unharmed by their kidnappers. In 2016, Sierra Leone’s deputy high commissioner was kidnapped at gunpoint on the highway and held for five days. </s> Tragedy struck in the early hours of yesterday (Sunday) in Amankwo Community, Ozubulu town, Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra as a group of unidentified, masked gunmen invaded St. Philips Catholic Church, Ozubulu and shot dead at least eleven worshipers and injured many others, some in critical condition.

Eyewitness accounts said the gunmen went into the church during the 6am mass, identified a particular man and shot him before turning their gun on other worshippers numbering not less than 100.

Both the dead and the injured had since been moved to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Teaching Hospital, Nnewi.

The State Commissioner of Police, Mr Garba Umar, who confirmed the incident explained that preliminary investigations by the force showed that the attack was carried out by a native of the community.

“From our findings, it is very clear that the person who carried the attack must be an indigene of the area. “We gathered that worshippers for 6 o’clock Sunday mass at St. Philip Ozobulu were in the service when a gunman dressed in black attire covering his face with a cap entered the church and moved straight to a particular direction and opened fire. “The man after shooting at his targeted victims still went on a shooting spree, killing and wounding other worshippers,’’ Umar said.

He further noted that the attacker was speaking fluent Igbo Language, dismissing earlier suggestions that it may have been carried out by Boko Haram terrorists.

The State governor, Chief Willie Obiano who visited the scene of the incident and later addressed residents of the state, also suggested that the attack was carried out by sons of the community, and was a case between two of the community’s sons who live abroad.

He promised that his government will take care of the hospital bill of the injured while assuring that the perpetrators must be brought to book.

Business Hallmark learnt that the attack was as a result of a rift between two sons of the community based in South Africa, which had dragged for about three years.

It was revealed that not less than 30 people had been killed in South Africa as a result of the case over the past three years and that one of the principal actors, one Alloysius Ikegwuonu alias Bishop who now spends most of his time in Nigeria was the key target of the attack.

It was also learnt that there had been calls for the community leaders as well as the church to intervene in the conflict, but nothing was done.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara has condemned the attack, describing it as “abominable, barbaric, inhuman, and the height of wickedness.”

In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Turaki Hassan, the Speaker said his heart is broken by the sad news of the massacre of innocent worshippers in cold blood, and questioned if humanity had been lost.

He called on security agencies to fish out perpetrators of the crime and bring them to justice as speedily as possible.

Similarly, a pro-democracy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemned the attack while knocking security agencies for failing to protect the lives of innocent worshippers, and other coordinated attacks in the state.

In a statement by its National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, the group said it was unacceptable that humongous budgetary releases are made towards maintaining armed security forces in Nigeria but when the occasion calls for the operatives to exercise their lawful obligations of safeguarding the lives and property of citizens they are found wanting.

“We in the Human Rights community are indeed shocked and disappointed that with all the security votes spent in buying vehicles for the Nigeria Police and other security forces that this type of brazenly murderous atrocities can happen and the perpetrators were neither stopped from carrying out their dastardly crime nor were they arrested so as to prosecute and punish them severely for these grave crime against humanity. Anambra State governor must ensure that those who planned and executed this massacre in Ozubulu are arrested, prosecuted swiftly and decisively punished to serve as deterrent. By the way why is Anambra state not secured additionally by armed vigilante similar to the civilian joint task force that exists in some states even when billions are expended as security votes yearly?”.
Gunmen attack the Ogba Zoo in Benin City, Nigeria, killing three police officers and abduct the zoo's director. There is no information on who the gunmen and abductors are, or whether they have made any demands.