Former Benue SSG dies after suspected bandit attack on Taraba road
Former Benue SSG David Salifu died from gunshot wounds after suspected bandits attacked him along the Wukari-Zaki Biam road in Taraba State.
David Salifu, a former Secretary to the Benue State Government who served under former Governor Gabriel Suswam, has died from gunshot injuries sustained during a suspected bandit attack along the Wukari-Zaki Biam road in Taraba State. He was also a lecturer at the Federal University, Wukari.
Mr Salifu died in the early hours of Friday at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), Makurdi. A close associate said Mr Salifu was attacked on Thursday while travelling from Wukari to Makurdi. “He left Wukari and was coming to Benue when he encountered hoodlums at the outskirts of Wukari,” said David Olofu, the ADC candidate for Benue South Senatorial District.
“They stopped his car and asked him to come down, but the bandits thereafter shot him.” Mr Olofu said the former SSG was initially taken to a hospital in Wukari before plans were made to transfer him to Abuja. He was taken to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital in Makurdi, where he died in the early hours of Friday.
The Chief Press Secretary to Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia, Tersoo Kula, confirmed that Mr Salifu was shot by suspected kidnappers after they attempted to abduct him. “He was a lecturer with the Federal University, Wukari. He was shot on the Wukari-Zaki Biam road in Taraba State by people who wanted to kidnap him,” Kula said.
The Wukari-Zaki Biam road is not a remote route. It connects Taraba and Benue states. That a former SSG and university lecturer can be shot on this road in broad daylight says everything about the state of security in the North-central.
The winners: none. The losers: the family of David Salifu, the academic community, and every Nigerian who travels on roads that have become killing fields.
Bottom Line: A former SSG, shot on a major road. The bandits are not hiding in the forests anymore. They are on the highways.