Benue: Armed Loyalists Of Late Gana Kill 3, Says Ortom's Aide

Three persons were reportedly killed last weekend, at Dyom village near Senga community in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State, when armed men in military camouflage, said to be loyalists of late militia leader, Terwase Akwaza alias "Gana", invaded.

However, two of the armed men, who also razed several houses in the community, met their waterloo when men of the joint security operation in the state, codenamed Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS) in a counter-operation, apprehended two of them and recovered their weapons.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, Col. Paul Hembe(retd.), who made this known to newsmen on Sunday in Makurdi, said the timely intervention of the OPWS personnel save what would have been a major bloodbath in the community.

He said: “These were armed men in military camouflage said to be loyalists of the late Gana.

"They stormed the area, killed three persons, and also burnt down houses in the community.

“Luckily while this was going on, information reached personnel of Operation Whirl Stroke who stormed the area, apprehended two of the armed men and also recovered their weapons which included live ammunition and an AK-47 rifle including a locally-made gun."

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent Catherine Anene, said she had not received details of the incident.

The State Security Council had, last week, imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Katsina-Ala and Ukum councils to check the increasing cases of banditry, kidnapping and armed robbery, as well as general insecurity in the two councils.

In September 2020, Gana was killed at a roadblock mounted by the army.

The Benue State Government had in 2015 granted amnesty to over 500 persons including Gana, who were terrorising parts of Benue and Taraba states, but most of them relapsed into criminality.

Gana was later in 2017 declared wanted by the police while the Benue State Government placed a N10 million bounty on him.

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He died in controversial circumstances in 2020.

Nigerian soldiers reportedly pulled out the Katsina-Ala Local Government Chairman, Alfred Orya Atera and his security detail, a former House of Assembly member, Dr Ianna Jato, from the Chairman’s official vehicle in which Gana was being conveyed to Makurdi for a supposed amnesty.

The military took the vehicle and Gana away.

They also arrested close to a hundred other potential Amnesty beneficiaries from Katsina-Ala, Ukum and Logo local government areas.

Unconfirmed reports alleged that the military killed some of the potential beneficiaries near Moji Farms after Tse-Kucha, and later killed Gana at another location in Nasarawa State.

News of this development filtered into the venue of the Expanded State Security Council meeting as unconfirmed rumours.

Reliable sources disclosed that most of those present, including Governor Samuel Ortom, Senator Gabriel Suswam and the Tor Tiv, Professor James Ayatse, were shocked.

This prompted the abrupt end of the meeting.