FROM ROSE EJEMBI, MAKURDI

SOME yet to be identi­fied gunmen early hours of yesterday (Friday) shot and killed one of Gover­nor Samuel Ortom’s aides, Hon. Denen Igbana in his Tionsha, Makurdi resi­dence.

Igbana who was until his gruesome murder, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Security Matters was said to have been gunned down by his assailants who laid am­bush in his area and wait­ed for him to return home at 12:50 am Friday.

One of the neighbours who simply gave his name as Joseph said as soon as the deceased drove into his compound, the gun­men, thinking he was be­ing driven by his driver first rained bullets on the passenger’s side of the car.

“But Igbana who was driving himself quickly opened the driver’s side and made to escape but the assailants pursued him and shot him on the leg and when he couldn’t run again, they went close to him and shot him again at a close range.”

Shortly before he died, Igbana was said to have been shouting the name of a notorious criminal who recently surrendered to the amnesty programme of the governor.

Meanwhile, Governor Ortom has given march­ing orders to all security agencies in the state to go after the killers of Igbana insisting that his govern­ment would ensure that whoever was behind the killing would be made to face the wrath of the law.

Ortom who was one of the early callers at the deceased’s home was re­ceived by family mem­bers and neighbours who wailed profusely over the loss of the SSA whom they described as a peace loving man.

Ortom who was moved to tears at the development described Igbana as one of his most trusted aides whose position would be difficult to fill maintaining that the killers have killed a part of him.