Robbers kill two traffic officials in Rivers

Three persons, including two traffic officials, were on Thursday killed by suspected armed robbers in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.The hoodlums shot sporadically, killing two officials of the state-owed Traffic Management Agency known as TIMARIV, and a pedestrian.While the pedestrian was killed on Okija Street, the two TIMARIV officials (a man and a woman) were shot on Agudama Road, D-Line at about 8.15am.A trader at Agudama Market, who gave his name simply as Joseph, said the traffic officials were shot at close range.Joseph said the robbers sped off in their car to an unknown destination.Our correspondent learnt that while the male traffic official died instantly, his female counterpart died on the way to hospital.Joseph said, "We heard gunshots and some of us ran away from our shops. When we came out from where we were hiding, we noticed that the two TIMARIV officials that were always controlling traffic here had been shot."The lady died while some sympathisers were rushing her to hospital. For the man, he died on the spot."Our correspondent observed that some shops were closed immediately after the incident.The State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ben Ugwuegbulam, said the armed robbers had earlier robbed a liquor company of N8m.According to him, the customers of the company were also robbed by the hoodlums who operated in a Volkswagen Passat.He said the robbers shot the two TIMARIV officials while trying to escape through Ada George Road.Reacting to the development, the State Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mr. Jerry Needam, said the robbery had again vindicated the position of the party that the state was not safe."We hereby again condemn in strong terms this lukewarm attitude of the state government to the deteriorating security situation in the state," Needam added.
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