…Gov Alia vows to apprehend robbers • Says attack affront on Benue

From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi

Benue State governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia has condemned the armed robbery attacks on some commercial banks in Otukpo town at the weekend, vowing to bring the perpetrators to book.

This is as the Benue State Police Command disclosed that its four personnel, including a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and three other police officers, were killed during the bank robbery.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, CP Batholomew Onyeka, who disclosed this in a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Catherine Anene, and made available to newsmen yesterday in Makurdi, said that five commercial banks were raided by the armed robbers.

The CP explained that the banks: Access, First, Zenith, UBA and Stanbic were raided by the armed robbers simultaneously.

According to him, “On 20/10/2023 at about 1615hrs, armed  robbers invaded Access, First, Zenith, UBA and Stanbic bank Otukpo simultaneously.

“The Otukpo Divisional Police Officer, CSP John Adikwu and other police teams in the area engaged them in a gun dwell, but were unable to prevent their attack on the banks.”

The commissioner said that more police teams in collaboration with other security agents were deployed to Otukpo to assist in stabilizing the area and prevent these robbers from escaping.

“The robbers who were intercepted along Otukpo-Taraku road engaged the officers in a gun duel and two of the robbers died in the process.

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“Other gang members abandoned their vehicles and escaped into the forest area and are been chased by the police.

“The DPO who sustained a gunshot injury on his stomach and three other police officers have been confirmed dead at the hospital.

“Other persons who sustained injuries in the bank have been moved to the hospital for treatment. Investigation is ongoing at the moment,” he said.

An ostensibly angry Governor Alia described the robbery incident as an affront on the state, saying that it didn’t take place at any other time, but at the exact time the Security Council meeting was in progress in the Government House, Makurdi, on Friday.

The governor sympathized with the families of those who were gruesomely murdered by the robbers.

He said: “It is an unfortunate development that people who were on duty, especially police officers, were shot and killed in cold blood by those mindless robbers.

“But they cannot get away with this. Already, security agencies are on their trail and must apprehend and bring them to justice.”

Alia in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Kula Tersoo, called on the people of the state to be vigilant and always endeavour to report suspicious movements around them all the time.

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