Councilor-Elect on a Mission to Rescue Abductees Beheaded in Benue

Paul Ojile, councillor-elect of Orokam 3, Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State, alongside his cousin, has been beheaded.

According to Daily Trust, Ojile and his cousin had gone missing on Thursday after embarking on a mission alongside some other persons to rescue someone who was abducted in the area.

Ojile’s lifeless body and that of his cousin were discovered on Friday.

Prince Samuel Onuh, Chairman of Ogbadibo Local Government Area, said late Ojile was a hunter and had teamed up with his colleagues and security officers to curb kidnappings in their area.

According to Onuh, there have been a lot of kidnappings in the area, with the latest happening on Thursday. He also said that the rescue team had been able to effect the arrest of two of the kidnappers and one of the victims rescued.

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It was after the rescue that they realised two persons from their party were missing.

The chairman was quoted as saying,” There was a kidnap yesterday (Thursday); actually in the last three days, kidnappers have been troubling the area, and there had been incessant kidnappings in the local government. They left from one community in Owukpa and they went to Orokam; on their way, they kidnapped one man.

“The councillor-elect who lives in the village is a hunter. Himself, his cousin, other hunters and the vigilante with Operation Zenda (a police outfit) had entered into the forest to see if they could rescue the man that was kidnapped; it was when they were to return yesterday that they noticed two of them were missing but they were able to arrest two of the kidnappers. It was this morning that they were able to check again, and they found their lifeless bodies – the councillor-elect and his cousin.”

Onuh added that Operation Zenda took the arrested victims to Markurdi, the state capital.

SP Catherine Anene, spokesperson of the Benue State Police Command, told journalists in Markurdi that Operation Zenda had brought the arrested suspects to Makurdi but that she was yet to get details of the incident.

Late Ojile was elected on April 30, and was awaiting his inauguration in July before his death.

FIJ