Before the killing of the Customs Officers, the gunmen struck at a military checkpoint within Omuaga axis of Elele-Owerre, close to the Port Harcourt International Airport.
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This is coming barely a week after the state police command said it had beefed up security at border towns following threats of an attack by members of the proscribed IPOB in the state.
This is contained in a statement signed in Lafia on Saturday by ASP Ramhan Nansel, the command’s Police Public Relations Officer on behalf of Bola Longe, the state Commissioner of Police.
Our correspondent gathered that the passengers were coming into Oyo State from Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State when the bus conveying them was waylaid and forced to stop by the hoodlums.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Monday.
The command’s spokesperson, DSP Loveth Odah, told newsmen on Thursday that the deceased were shot dead at a checkpoint on Onuebonyi/Nwezenyi Road, Abakaliki on Wednesday night.
The gunmen were said to have emerged from the bush around Onipe community about 8:20a.m. on Monday morning. They fired warning shots into the air before taking their victims away.
Our correspondent recalls that 1,884 inmates were freed when the gunmen struck the Correctional Centre and the Imo State Police Command headquarters in Owerri, respectively.
The gunmen were said to have operated with no fewer than 10 vehicles at about 2am, setting free some inmates.
One security man was shot dead during the attack.
ASP Ubah Ogaba, the Police Public Relations Officer of the command, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Jos.
According to the newspaper, the armed men, who struck at about 8:15pm on Thursday, abducted a couple and another staff of the airport.
The incident happened at Tyo Mu along Makurdi/Gboko road around noon.
The victims, identified as Adeyemo Precious and Oyefule Abiola, are students at the departments of Forestry and Wildlife Management and Agricultural Economics respectively.
The incident was said to have occurred while pupils where trooping into the school around 9am on Monday.
Gunmen had invaded the residence of the deceased at about 3:05am, and fatally shot the family head, his two wives and three grandchildren.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Police Command in the state had confirmed the killings which took place on Saturday night.
The identities of the perpetrators of the crime could not be immediately ascertained, but police operatives, men of Oodua Peoples Congress and Hunters Group of Nigeria were said to have been deployed in the bush in the area.
The Nation learnt that the kidnappers invaded the institute on Wednesday night, amid sporadic gunshots.
Gunmen on Saturday waylaid a commercial bus with registration number KTP 331 RG to rob travellers therein and abducted the driver and a passenger after a gun battle with security operatives.