Suspected robbers kill Benue resident

Suspected armed robbers have reportedly killed a 22-year-old resident of Ojoga community in Ichama district of Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State. Witnesses said the armed robbers had gunned down the deceased, Joseph Gabriel Obitiye, on Friday around his house at about 11pm when he unknowingly walked into them while they were trying to […]

Suspected armed robbers have reportedly killed a 22-year-old resident of Ojoga community in Ichama district of Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State.

Witnesses said the armed robbers had gunned down the deceased, Joseph Gabriel Obitiye, on Friday around his house at about 11pm when he unknowingly walked into them while they were trying to break into a shop.

The witnesses said the deceased, however, identified the gang leader to be the son of a popular herder resident in the Ichama community before giving up the ghost.

The late Obitiye was said to have earlier the same day taken his wife to St. Mary’s Hospital, Okpoga, where she gave birth to a stillborn infant and that on returning home, his friends and relatives had gathered in his house to sympathise with him.

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“They were all still outside the deceased’s house at about 11pm when a group of six armed men wielding dangerous weapons approached a provision shop beside his house and tried to break in.

 “The late Joseph, probably unaware that they were dangerously armed, walked towards them and questioned their presence at the shop at that period of the night. His friends, who were still with him, reportedly heard him scream the name of the resident herder’s son before gunshots sounded in the air.

“The sudden gunfire caused his friends to first flee for safety while the attackers continued shooting as they disappeared into the nearby forest. When the gunfire subsided, Joseph’s friends rushed back and found him lying in a pool of his own blood, while still murmuring the name of his killer.

“He was immediately taken to the same hospital where his wife was still on admission, but doctors pronounced him dead on arrival,” a witness who preferred anonymity narrated.

The witnesses said the incident was promptly reported to the police.

However, the police spokesperson for Benue Command, CSP. Catherine Anene, did not respond to calls put through her telephone for comment on the incident.