It was a bloody Saturday, April 16, 2016 in Opoga, a rural community in Benue State as two robbers were set ablaze in retaliation for allegedly strangling a member of a vigilante group to death.
Eye-witnesses said the hoodlums had, in the previous night, killed the vigilante member who was hanging at a drinking joint with his girlfriend after the close of work.
The vigilante member, whose name could not be identified as at press time, was reportedly shot several times but on discovering that the rain of bullets had no impact on him, the armed men dropped their gun and strangled him until he bled to death.
But in a reprisal attack, other vigilante members in the community were said to have stormed the hideout of the hoodlums, fished them out and set them ablaze.
However, it was learnt that one of the armed men died immediately but the other refused to die, even as the fire ran through his body in the presence of the bewildered public.
Somehow, as he refused to die, it was learnt that he told the vigilante members to remove the beads on his neck and pour sand round where he was being murdered.
As soon as that was done, the eye-witness said he exploded and burnt, yielding up the ghost to the yellow flames as the fire consumed him.
But immediately he was burnt, policemen were said to have stormed the area, leading to as stampede as the people ran to avoid being arrested in connection with the murder.
