Following an attack on Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom by gunmen, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has dispatched a special team to Makurdi.
The team, a Special Investigative Task Force, is being led by a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, whom the police authorities described as a no-nonsense investigator.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Sunday, March 28, 2021, by the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, adding that the team has arrived in the north-central state.
According to a statement, the team consists of operatives from the Tactical Investigation Units of the Force Intelligence Bureau, FIB, and other experienced, crack detectives with specialised competencies in crime scene investigation and reconstruction, ballistics, fingerprint analysis and other core areas of forensics.
One of the core mandates of the team is “to take over and consolidate all on-going investigation into the incident.
“The Team is also expected to investigate all angles of the reported attack with a view to ensuring that all persons empirically linked to the incident are apprehended and brought to book.”
Adamu also charged the team to be professional, thorough, and clinical in their investigations, stressing that they should “liaise and work with the Benue State Police Command and other relevant members of the law enforcement community to ensure that they deliver on their mandate.”
The attack on the governor occurred on March 20 at Tyo Mu along the Makurdi-Gboko Road in Makurdi Local Government Area of the state.
Recounting how it occurred, Governor Ortom had told reporters that the gunmen who attacked him were “herdsmen”.
According to him, the armed men numbering about 15 trailed him to the riverbank where he was on foot.
The governor said his security details, who were just about six in number, swiftly responded to the attack and repelled the assailants after which they provided cover for him to return to safety.
