Gunmen have killed a Gusau-based lawyer, Benedict Azza, in the Zamfara State capital.

It was gathered that Azza, a principal associate at Benedict Torngee Azza and Associates, was shot dead in the Saminaka area of Gusau at about 10 p.m. on Thursday.

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) chairman in Zamfara State, Junaidu Abubakar, who confirmed the incident, said the lawyer was trailed to his residence possibly with the intent of abducting him but wanted to escape to the city centre when the gunmen opened fire on the vehicle.

He said: “According to the information, BT Azza was shot dead by two unknown gunmen suspected to be kidnappers who came on a motorcycle.

“The information has it that, the gunmen wanted to kidnap him at his house situated in Saminaka Area, BehindFederal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Headquarters, but he was able to escape, drove his vehicle and run to the roadside. The gunmen pursued him and shot him dead.

“B. T. Azza’s neighbours said they heard some gunshots in the area and after a while, they also heard a loud sound of a vehicle accident. When they came out and rushed to the scene, they saw him open his vehicle’s door, came out and walked to the main road where he sat down and started bleeding.”

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Abubakar said he was at the scene of the incident on Thursday night alongside two other senior members of the NBA in the state immediately he was notified.

“He was shot three times by the gunmen and they didn’t take anything from the crashed vehicle, a Lexus Jeep. I met his dead body in the pool of his blood.

“While we were there, FRSC’s personnel came to the scene with a body bag in which the dead body was deposited and taken by the police to Yariman Bakura Specialists Hospital, Gusau where his dead body was deposited in the mortuary,” he added.

The incident was further confirmed by the police spokesperson in the state, Mohammed Shehu, noting that police operatives were on the trail of the killers.

He added that the command has beefed up security in the area where the lawyer was killed.

Zamfara remains the most hard-hit state with the armed banditry in the North-West that has now spread to the region and a part of the North-Central.

Thousands of people have lost their lives while millions of others have been displaced internally and externally to neighbouring Niger Republic as a result of bandits’ activities.

The Star