Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has pushed back against the police account of the killing of five officers in Darazo Local Government Area, insisting the incident was not a bandit attack, Peak Newspaper reports.
The Bauchi Police Command had announced on Sunday that the officers were ambushed by suspected bandits while responding to distress calls from Sabon Sara village.
But speaking at the State Executive Council meeting on Wednesday, Mohammed said the report was misleading.
“I want to tell you that it is not banditry; it is a community issue. We are on the ground, we know it,” the governor said, assuring that the government was handling the matter.
Mohammed also addressed the recent closure of schools in the state, explaining that the action was taken based on intelligence about a possible threat of student abduction; unrelated to the Darazo incident.
He said the shutdown was a precaution, not a sign of escalating bandit activity, and pledged to step up security by fencing schools, installing lighting and deploying vigilantes under the Safe School Programme.
“It’s better to be safe than to go with ego. We will secure all vulnerable schools before the end of the year,” he added.
