Gov Otom’s top aide assassinated

A top aide to the Governor Samuel Otom of Benue State, Mr Denen Igbana was in the early hours of Friday morning assassinated by unknown gunmen.

Igbana, who was Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on security to Governor Ortom, was a police officer who served with the Benue State Police Command and a detective who busted many criminal cases in the command

After retirement at a young age he served as security coordinator of the Ortom- Abounu Campaign Organisation 2015, after which he got his last appointment with the governor.

An eyewitness to the killing, Thomas Ayakpam narrated that the gunmen waylaid Igbana at Tionsha, a suburb of Makurdi, on his way back home in the night, and sprayed his Nissan Hilux pick-up vehicle with bullets.

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Ayakpam told Governor Ortom and his entourage when they paid a condolence visit that Igbana jumped down and took to his heels but the gunmen who were many went after him.

He narrated further that they shot him severally giving him no chance to survive. He was rushed to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital in Makurdi, but later died.

He said they could not come out to rescue the security aide because of the sporadic gun shots that rented the air in the community as they were scared because the gunmen seemed to be many.

The late Igbana recently led a team of security men to rescue the father of an oil mogul in Makurdi popular known as Kyazi, who was kidnapped and N10 million ransom placed on his head.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Moses Yamu, a DSP confirmed the incident and said detectives have launched a man hunt to fish out the suspects and appealed for information from members of the public.

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