Big casualties: How Borno attorney general was killed -Eyewitness

Our Reporter September 19, 2012  

 

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From TIMOTHY OLA, Maiduguri
Borno was yesterday thrown into deep mourning following the killing of the state Attorney General/Commissioner of Justice, Zanna Malam Gana by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members. Gana, one of the oldest commissioners in the Borno State Executive Council, was killed in Bama, his home town about 75 kilometres away from Maiduguri, the state capital on Monday night.
Sources said he was at Majlis a local rendezvous, where friends gather to chat when four gunmen suddenly emerged. “They demanded for money first and he immediately offered N100, 000. “Then they said it was not enough and he begged that he be allowed to pick some money from his car just in front of where we were seated, but they said there was no need.
“They said his journey has ended today (Monday). They shot him in the chest and head and then fled,” an eyewitness and family member of the deceased disclosed yesterday in Bama during the burial of the late commissioner. Gana was said to have travelled to his town, Bama last weekend and planned to return to Maiduguri on Sunday. He was however, compelled to alter his plan when JTF troops shut down the Bama-Maiduguri Road after the Sunday bomb explosion and killings.
He reportedly returned to Bama again on Sunday afternoon unknown to him he was returning into the waiting hands of his assailants. “He left Bama on Sunday morning to return to Maiduguri but was compelled to return to Bama again because soldiers have already cordoned off the Bama end of the road in Maiduguri due to the bomb blast and killings that day.
He stayed on the road for about three hours and decided to return to Bama again when it became impossible for him to enter the state capital. Perhaps he would have escaped his killers had he succeeded in entering Maiduguri on Sunday,” the family member who did not want his name in print for security reason said. Aged 63, Zanna Gana known for his quiet mien and meticulouºs posture was the chairman of committees for the construction of various housing estates in the state since 2003.
He had a stint as a teacher in the early 70s at Higher School Certificate (HSC) level before venturing into private legal practice. Gov Kashim Shettima who led government delegation to attend the funeral of the late commissioner at the Shehu of Bama Palace yesterday could not control his emotion as he shed tears intermittently.

SOURCE: 19 September 2012.