A former Benue State Secretary to the Government (SSG), Professor David Salifu, has died after sustaining gvnshot injuries in an attack by band!ts
He was said to have d!ed in the early hours of this morning while receiving treatment at the hospital following the incident which happened on Thursday along the Wukari-Zakibiam road on the borders of Benue and Taraba States.
Salifu, who served as SSG during the administration of former Governor Gabriel Suswam, was reportedly travelling from Wukari in Taraba State to Makurdi in Benue on Thursday morning, when b.andits intercepted his vehicle on the outskirts of Wukari.
Witnesses said the bandits suspected to be k!dnappers flagged down his vehicle and ordered him to alight and board a motorcycle, adding that he was reportedly shot after challenging the attackers.
The late Salifu was a lecturer at the Federal University, Wukari in Taraba State.
Confirming the incident to journalists in a telephone interview on Friday, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Benue South senatorial candidate and a close associate of the deceased, Chief David Olofu, said Salifu d!ed in the early hours of Friday at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi.
“He was a member of my campaign council and a confidant. I learnt that he left Wukari for Benue when he encountered hoodlums on the outskirts of Wukari. They stopped his vehicle, asked him to come down, and thereafter shot him,” Olofu said.
He added that, the former SSG was initially rushed to the teaching hospital in Wukari, but arrangements were later made with the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Wukari, who released an ambulance with a team of doctors to evacuate him for advanced medical care.
“However, he was eventually taken to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, where he d!ed in the early hours of Friday,” Olofu added.
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