Tension in Benue as leader of Police team that killed Boko Haram leader, Yusuf, murdered by gunmen

Fresh security tension has engulfed Benue State following the murder of the Principal Senior Special Assistant on Special Security to Governor Samuel Ortom, retired AIG Dega Chris, by unknown gunmen in Jos, Plateau State. Retired AIG Dega Chris led the police operations where the pioneer Boko Haram leader, Muhammed Yusuf, was killed in brutal manners. Dega Chris, then Commissioner of Police, was immediately redeployed to Edo State Police Command after the extra-judicial killing of the radical Boko Haram leader in Borno State, Yusuf.

The killing of Retired AIG Dega Chris, Principal Senior Special Assistant on Special Security to Governor Samuel Ortom, is the second time the Security Aide to Governor Ortom is being killed in Benue State by unknown gunmen.  Denen Igbana, a Security Aide to Governor Ortom, was murdered in 2016; his killing led the state government to declare Terwase Akwaza, widely known as Gana, a Benue militia leader, wanted. The Benue State government, subsequently in 2017, declared a N10 million reward for anyone who had information that could lead to the arrest of Gana.

Terwase Akwaza, Gana, was later killed by the Niegrian Army on his way to Makurdi for an official surrender and amnesty declaration.

The Commander of the Four Special Forces Command of the Nigerian Army in Doma Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, Brigadier General Maude Ali Gadzama, admitting the killing of Terwase Akwaza, Gana, said that the wanted militia leader was killed in a gun battle with army officers.

Governor Ortom, however, disputed the claim of the Nigerian Army, saying that soldiers forced Gana out of a government convoy escorting repentant militants in Gboko to Makurdi for amnesty.

Terwase Akwaza, Gana, had surrendered in the presence of traditional rulers, priests, and local government officials in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area, with 142 members of his militia group. Their convoy was intercepted on the way to Makurdi by military officials, where Gana was killed.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in Plateau State, CP Edward Egbuka, had disclosed that the late Dega Chris was trailed from Makurdi, Benue State, to Jos, where he was shot to death at Anguldi in the Bukuru environ of Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State at about 8.30 pm on Monday.

CP Egbuka also disclosed that the police have arrested some suspects linked to the murder of Dega Chris, adding that they are in police custody as investigations continue.

The circumstances of the killing of Dega Chris remains uncertain. Residents of Benue State ponder whether there was deliberate plot to eliminate the retired AIG; or the Boko Haram terrorists or bandits were on vengeance mission to kill the retired police officer who led the operations that resulted in the killing of the founder of Boko Haram, Muhammed Yusuf.

Earlier in March 2021, an elder brother of Senator Gabriel Suswam, Dr. Terkula Suswam, was killed by gunmen in Benue State.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Benue Police Command, DCP Catherine Anene, confirming the killing had narrated: “At about 1930hrs, information was received that while Dr. Terkura Suswam and his aide, Mr. Solomon, sat opposite his house at Elohim Plaza, Anyiin, to supervise repairs at the said plaza, yet-to-be identified gunmen, who drove in a Toyota Camry vehicle, attacked and shot him and his aide.

“A team of police officers on patrol in the area rushed to the scene and conveyed the victims to NKST Anyiin Hospital where they were eventually confirmed dead.

“Their corpses have been deposited at the hospital for autopsy.”

Since the extra-judicial killing of Gana by the Nigerian Army in Benue State, there has been palpable fear that Gana Boys may not take the killing of their principal as given.