Kogi State Police Command has confirmed the loss of three lives including that of an Inspector to a mob attack in Yagba-West Local Government Area of the state on Tuesday.
The mob attack followed robberies at three banks in Odo-Ere and Egbe towns in the local government area.
Police spokesman in Kogi State, Williams Aya, said in a statement in Lokoja on Thursday that the police launched a manhunt for the robbery suspects and arrested two of them.
The manhunt, he explained, was done in collaboration with operatives of other security agencies, hunters and vigilantes and it took the team to Oke-Ere Hills where the robbery suspects were trapped.
“The two suspects who were arrested were taken to Odo-Ere police station. An irate mob from the community went to the station demanding that the two suspects be released to them for lynching.
“All efforts by the police to placate the mob proved abortive; it became violent and in the process lynched one Inspector Bamisaye Gbenga and injured PC Sunday Alechenu.
Aya stated also that in an effort to disperse the mob, a male and a female were maimed and both died in the hospital while receiving treatment.
He added that the mob set part of the station ablaze.
He quoted the Commissioner of Police in Kogi State, Idris Babban, as condemning the act of lawlessness perpetrated by youths of Ode-Ere and called on them to refrain from taking the laws into their hands.
He assured that at the conclusion of investigation, the suspects would be arraigned to face justice.
