Gunmen shoot LGA chairman, 3 policemen in Benue

There is brewing tension in Benue state following a gun attack in Benue South senatorial district. The Benue state police command has confirmed that unknown gunmen killed Ijachi Ude, the council chairman of Otukpo local government area, a supervisory councillor and three policemen including an orderly to a council boss. Speaking with Leadership, Paul Yakadi, the commissioner of police, revealed that the tragic incident happened on Monday night and Tuesday between 8 and 10 am. He added that policemen had been deployed to the Benue south senatorial zone to maintain law and order ahead of the Saturday rerun election. A few days ago, David Mark, the former Senate president and the PDP senatorial candidate, warned of an alleged plot by Benson Abounu, the deputy governor of Benue state, and some APC chieftains to assassinate him.


Abounu had described the allegation as an act of desperation and a well-calculated plot by Mark’s camp to denigrate him. The deputy governor stated categorically that he “has not in any way plotted to kill Mark or ordered security men to shoot at his house in the area.” “I was campaign director of Mark in 1999 and I can say I made him senator and he knows am not a violent person but because he is aware that he will be defeated, he want to cause violence to disrupt the election so it would be declared inconclusive. I have nothing personal against Mark but since 2010 we have had our political differences,” he noted. In a recent interview with Vanguard, Chief Patrick Ogbu, the director of David Mark’s re-election campaign organization, expressed assurance that people in Benue South will support the senator in the rerun election. “I want to make it clear to you, that our people cannot downgrade their dream just to please the whims and opinion of others. There is no alternative to Senator David Mark.

“We agree that the government is for Daniel Onjeh and he Daniel Onjeh is for the government but the people are for David Mark and he David Mark is for the people. As it is today, Mark is the hero of our people anytime and day,” he said. According to Ogbu, the fight today is not the fight of David Mark or Daniel Onjeh but a fight between the Idoma kingdom and others. “The Idoma are very much united for Senator Mark, but because of the external forces that are intruding in the affairs and politics of Benue South district and that is why you are seeing all this confusion around.” “But we want to sound to these external forces that enough is enough, they should leave us alone and allow us choose who we prefer to represent us at the Senate,” he stressed.