Sheikh Goni Aisami-Gashua, a Yobe-based Islamic scholar, was killed by gunmen on Saturday at Jajimaji, the headquarters of the state’s Karasuwa local government council.
The attackers followed the cleric in a bus as he traveled from Gashua to Kano.
According to some Gashua residents, the incident occurred around 10 a.m. at Jajimaji, which is less than 30 kilometers away from Gashua, the hometown of Senate President Ahmad Lawan.
In a phone conversation with our correspondent, DSP Dungus Abdulkarim, the state police spokesman, said suspects wielding AK-47 rifles had been arrested and were in police custody.
Gashua has been one of the most peaceful communities in the state, even at the peak of the Boko Haram insurgency.