The Nigerian Army claims that it is working with other security services to find the armed group that attacked a military Hilux vehicle in Benin City, the capital of Edo State, on Wednesday.
Yemi Sokoya, assistant director of army public relations, who made this announcement in a statement, also provided specifics of the incident.
“The attention of the Nigerian Army (NA) has been drawn to a series of inaccurate narratives in the media space in respect to the attack on a military Hilux vehicle at Akpakpava road in Benin City Edo State by some armed gunmen on Wednesday 23 August 2023,” the statement read.
In addition, it claimed that an armed gang in a red Toyota Camry car must have followed the soldiers and noticed that they were unarmed. They then opened fire on the vehicle at a traffic light junction, probably believing the soldiers were carrying the money. However, when they realized the vehicle was empty, the gang sped away. Sadly, a few of the shots struck the driver in the chest, and he passed away at the hospital.
While several reports claimed that the robbers carted away huge sums of cash, the Army described them as “entirely false as no cash was involved”.