TheCable

Suspected kidnappers have killed Benedict Azza, a legal practitioner in Gusau, Zamfara state capital.

Azza was killed on Thursday when gunmen, reportedly, attempted to kidnap him at his residence in the Saminaka area of Gusau.

According to sources, the lawyer tried to flee by scurrying to his car and driving into the main road, but the attackers caught up to him and shot him three times.

Junaidu Abubakar, chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Zamfara, said the lawyer’s corpse was left on the roadside along the bye-pass behind the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) office.

“I received a phone call yesterday at about 22:30 hours in which I was informed that Azza was shot dead by gunmen and immediately I and other colleagues rushed to the scene after receiving the news and we met the corpse of the victim lying along the bypass road near FRSC office in Gusau,” Abubakar said.

“B.T Azza’s body was lying in cold blood on the road with his vehicle (a Lexus SUV) by the roadside. When I reached there, I met police and soldiers already at the scene and later personnel of the FRSC whose headquarters was nearby the area where the incident occurred, came with a body bag in which the corpse was put. The corpse was taken by the police and deposited at the mortuary of the Yariman Bakura Specialists Hospital, Gusau.

“B. T. Azza was shot dead by two gunmen suspected to be kidnappers who rode on a motorcycle. The gunmen wanted kidnapping Aza at his house situated at Saminaka Area, behind FRSC headquarters, Bypass, Gusau but he resisted and escaped, driving to the road, but the gunmen pursued him and shot him dead.”

Aza who hailed from Makurdi, Benue state, was the principal attorney and head of chambers of Benedict Torngee Aza & Associates.