Benue: Gunmen Assassinate Governor’s top security aide Deneen Igbana

Pandemonium broke out early morning on Friday in Makurdi when gunmen shot and killed the senior special assistant on security to Governor Samuel Ortom, Mr. Deneen Igbana in his private residence.

This came just as assailants has attacked the police C Division located in Northbank area of Makurdi and shot the Divisional police Officer (DPO) of the station and his orderly.

Igbana was assassinated right in his aboard located at Tionsha area, along Makurdi-Naka expressway, at about 12.32am. It was gathered that the ugly incident occurred when the SSA arrived home from close of work.

Eyewitnesses said the gunmen stormed the house and shot severally on the Hilux van in which the SSA drove. The assailants pursued him when he had attempted to escape before he was finally killed in a house near his home.

Governor Samuel Ortom paid a condolence visit to the family at the residence in Tionsha, alongside members of the executive and state security councils. He also visited the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) mortuary where the remains of the governor’s aide was deposited, just as he went to the Amazing Grace Hospital at Highlevel area to assess the condition of the son to the deceased who had collapse on receiving the shocking news of the death of his father.

However, the leader of Tionsha community, Chief Thomas Ayakpam who narrated the incident to Governor Ortom said, the death was a great loss to the entire community and state. He noted that the SSA was killed by the gunmen for no just cause.

“The gunmen came in the midnight at about 12.32am when he just returned and had not come down from his vehicle. He came down from the vehicle but they pursued him and shot him several times in the leg and stomach. But Deneen was wailing calling for help as he mentioned the name of a notorious criminal who was recently granted amnesty by the governor. He died while he was being conveyed to the hospital after the gunmen had escaped,” Ayakpam stated.

Meanwhile Ortom has described the assassination of his aide as irreparable, saying the death was impliedly a heavy blow to him and the entire administration. He said he will quickly mobilize security agencies to unravel the killing and fish out the culprits.

(Culled from Leadership)