A police inspector, identified as Otor Ejiga, has been killed by suspected gunmen in Makurdi, in an incident that has raised fresh security concerns in the state.
The officer, who was attached to a Mega Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp along Gbajimba Road, was reportedly attacked on Thursday evening while manning a checkpoint in the area.
Sources disclosed that the checkpoint was set up without proper authorization and that the inspector was operating alone at the time.
Eyewitness accounts indicate that the gunmen ambushed the officer, opened fire, and fatally wounded him before fleeing the scene.
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The attackers were also said to have made away with his service rifle after the shooting.
A police patrol team later arrived at the scene, recovered the officer’s body, and conveyed it to the mortuary at Benue State University Teaching Hospital for an autopsy.
Following the incident, security agencies have launched a manhunt to apprehend those responsible and recover the stolen weapon.
Authorities have also commenced a full-scale investigation into the circumstances surrounding the attack.
Meanwhile, the officer in charge of the unit has reportedly been queried over alleged supervisory lapses, as officials seek to determine how the inspector was deployed alone at an unauthorized checkpoint.
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