Gunmen suspected to be bandits are currently on a rampage in parts of Benue South senatorial district, killing and abducting unsuspecting villagers.
DAILY POST recalls that barely three days ago, Mr. Raphael Okpe, a native of Orokam, Ogbadibo Local Government of the state and a renowned Timber Merchant in Idoma land was kidnapped from a farm where he went to deliver food to his workers.
A joint rescue team of local vigilantes and security agencies was subsequently mobilized to rescue the victim.
Although they succeeded in rescuing Okpe, it was gathered that two members of the team; Paul Ojile (an elected PDP Councilor awaiting swearing-in this Tuesday) and Agbo Onogwu (a youth vigilante member) were missing from the squad.
They were unfortunately found dead in the forest by the team the following day with their throats slit.
DAILY POST learnt that several killing and kidnapping incidents have also occurred in Owukpa and some other parts of the senatorial district in the last few days.
In reaction to the incidents, the All Progressives Congress, APC senatorial candidate of Benue South, Daniel Onjeh alleged that the perpetrators of the dastardly act were Fulani herdsmen.
In a statement he signed on Monday, Onjeh said the assailants had confessed to one of the victims that “they had no time to waste with him, as they were sent on a special mission from Sokoto State, hence if a ransom was not paid to them immediately, they would kill him and move on”.
The APC candidate called on the police and other security agencies to investigate the incident thoroughly, “because it might not be unconnected with the death and destruction visited upon a community in Edumoga, Okpokwu L.G.A. last Sunday, where over 14 people were killed and several houses destroyed”.
