Gun men Shoots One to death at Ugbokolo
The peace of the graveyard which has prevailed in and around the Polytechnic town of Ugbokolo in Benue State has been shattered with the shooting to death of the Secretary of a local co-operative group. Mr Ameh Ochigbo popularly known as ‘Radical’ was shot dead about 3 am earlier this morning, according to security agency sources.
According to the source, ‘Radical’ was taken from Effoyo near the Polytechnic where he is a family man and asked to show the gangsters said to number six the location of the house of the treasurer of the group. This, ‘Radical’ did but after which he was shot dead. The local vigilantes which sprang up within the past 10 days in response to the insecurity challenge around Ugbokolo were, however, not aware of this till much, much later in the morning. Made up of able bodied young men without exemption in each local settlements, the neighbourhood vigilantes have now become the backbone of resistance of the gangsters after police presence was felt but considered inadequate around Ugbokolo following a series of killings in the neighbourhood.
Police intervention has been fraught with relief on the one hand but claims of arbitrary arrest on the other. Not only are people picked up during random raids, they are mostly sent to prison without much ado. Not only are the warrants for their detention in prison custody signed by a magistrate court judge, most of them have been there since the end of January 2017. Charged with alleged armed robbery and attempted arson. It is only a High Court Judge that is has the power to so. the complaint is that it has taken January to May 2017 to do. The fear now is that Ugbokolo and environ might have slipped into a violent phase deeper than so far perceived.
Moses Yamu, an Assistant Superintendent of Police and the Public Relations officer of the Benue State Command told the media, including Intervention, last week that police did raid the town between end of January and March and took away many people. He said they have been charge to court.
