The Borno State Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement (RRR), Ibrahim Garba, was found dead Saturday in his guest house located in the 777 housing estate in Maiduguri.
His body was found alongside that of a yet-to-be-identified woman who was discovered unconscious and later died at the hospital where she had been taken for treatment.
The corpses of the two are currently at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital where an autopsy is being conducted to ascertain the cause of their death.
The Borno State Government has confirmed the commissioner’s death.
The governor’s spokesman, Isa Gusau, issued a terse statement expressing the state’s shock and grief.
Governor Babagana Umara Zulum “received the news with intense shock and profound grief,” Mr Gusau said.
He further noted, “The Governor mourns alongside the late commissioner’s family, other loved ones, friends, associates, and members of the state executive council.”
Mr Gusau also confirmed that the Borno State police command has begun an immediate investigation into Mr Garba’s death. He added that the state police commissioner had visited the house in Maiduguri where Mr Garba was found.
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The spokesperson was silent on the yet-to-be-identified woman. The statement did not provide details on the circumstances surrounding the commissioner’s death but offered prayers for his forgiveness and peaceful afterlife.
Further information about the incident was confirmed by the Police Public Relations Officer, Borno State Command, Kaminu Shatambaya. However, Mr Shatambaya did not provide details about the incident or the identity of the woman.
“It was a tragic loss but for now, we are all at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital waiting for the autopsy result before any official statement from the police can be issued,” he commented.
Mr Garba, a key figure in Governor Zulum’s administration, was previously the Special Adviser on Special Projects before he was appointed commissioner of RRR at the start of Mr Zulum’s second term.