Terrorists kill university deputy vice chancellor on Zamfara highway

Terrorists, locally known as bandits, have killed Yusuf Saidu, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and deputy vice-chancellor of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto.

The institution disclosed this in a Facebook post on Monday.

Mr Saidu and his driver were waylaid by the terrorists on a terror-ravaged highway linking Zamfara and Kaduna States, according to sources in the university.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that Mr Saidu’s driver escaped from the attack with injuries.

A lecturer in the university who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES in confidence said the don was attacked “on his way to Kaduna at a village called Kucheri after Tsafe town.”

“The village is already known as one of the deadliest points for bandits’ attacks,” he added.

Isa Ali Ibrahim, an Islamic cleric and former minister in the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, also confirmed the death of the university don on his X page on Mon, 24 June.

Mr Ibrahim posted: Inna lil Laahi wa inna ilaiHi Raajiun!
The death has occurred of Professor Yusuf Saidu, the Deputy Vice Chancellor Research Innovation and Development Usmanu Danfodiyo University (UDUS) Sokoto. He was attacked and killed by Bandits on his to Kaduna from Soko, to as reported by https://t.co/uxISGzh651
(https://x.com/ProfIsaPantami/status/1805277927187083415?t=L07U_foOCnz2qLv9XqDdjQ&s=03)

The deceased was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research Innovation and Development at the university.

A day before the incident, a group of three terrorists waylaid police officers at a checkpoint in Bukuyum LGA, Zamfara. They killed one officer and injured others.

The terrorists, thereafter, went away with abandoned rifles and other items belonging to the police officers.

Terrorists operating in the North-west have, over the years, been attacking communities, schools, places of worship and highways, which has led to the death and displacement of hundreds of people.

READ ALSO: Bandits kill Nigerian university’s deputy vice-chancellor

Earlier this year, terrorists killed a primary school teacher, Sa’adu Isah, in Kucheri.

In November 2023, the terrorists blocked the Kucheri–Magazu highway in Tsafe LGA and killed scores of travellers.

A year before, in October, the terrorists laid siege to the same highway and hindered movement for more than 48 hours.