Gunmen (file photo)

Bayelsa Police Command has confirmed the killing of the State’s chairman of Cattle Breeders Association, Alhaji Abdulkarim Jubril, and three other persons said to be his employees.

The incident, it was gathered, occurred on Saturday afternoon along the Bayelsa Palm Road in Yenagoa Local Government Area of the state.

According to eyewitnesses, Jubril,  who was the highest supplier of cows in Bayelsa was killed on the premises of his private abattoir by the gunmen who also shot three of his boys to death.

While confirming the incident, Police Public Relations Officer, Bayelsa State Command, Asinim Butswat said,  “On December 2, 2017, at about 12:30hrs, three unknown gunmen in a Black Mazda 323 car, number-plate yet unknown, went to Azikoro Road by Winners U-Turn, Yenagoa, where one Alhaji Jibril Abdulkarim, the chairman, Cattle Breeders Association, Bayelsa State branch, was discussing with three others, shot at them on their heads and drove off to unknown destination.

“Policemen were immediately deployed for possible arrest.

“The scene was visited by the Police. Three of the victims — one Abiso Abba, Yunusa, (surname unknown), and the third (name unknown), died on the spot, while Alhaji Jibril Abdulkarim was rushed to the hospital for medical attention where he later died.”

Butswat, however, said there was suspicion of internal wrangling and strife within the association even as he assured that the police and other security agencies were working on a promising lead for possible arrest of the suspects.

He added that the bodies of the victims had been deposited at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, for autopsy while efforts were ongoing to arrest the fleeing suspects.