PDP, ACN RENEWED CRISIS CLAIMS ONE IN BENUE

By PETER DURU
MAKURDI  -  A re-newed crisis between the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, supporters in Logo and Konshisha local government areas of Benue State, has claimed one  life while property worth millions of naira were destroyed.

An eyewitness alleged that crisis broke out at Tse-Agbaragba in Konshisha Local Government Area when suspected thugs allegedly loyal to the ACN stormed a gathering of PDP supporters in the town and started shooting sporadically.

The eyewitness claimed the shooting created a pandemonium that left everyone scampering for safety while the thugs were said to have  went after one John Terver who was alleged to be a leading supporter of the PDP in the area.

'He was chased to a nearby shop where the ACN gang shot him in the hand, pounced on him and inflicted several machete cuts on him, before leaving him  in a pool of blood', he said.

Corroborating the story, the elder brother of the victim, Barnabas Akange Terver, who was sighted at the State Police Headquarters, disclosed that after the gang had inflicted several cuts on his younger brother, they left him thinking he was dead.

'But when we got to where they left him he was still breathing and while on our way to the hospital he was able to grumble some words and also revealed the names of three persons that attacked him.

'But shortly after, he gave up the ghost before medical attention could reach him.'

While in Logo local government area, a group of ACN supports were alleged to have attacked some PDP supporters at Tyoja village few kilometers to Anyii.

Vanguard gathered that no fewer than 8 PDP supporters sustained gunshot wounds in the attack while Governor Gabriel Suswam's campaign office and billboards were touched by the rampaging ACN supports.

Also destroyed in the ACN onslaught were motorbikes, vehicles and PDP offices in the town.

When contacted, the Benue State Police Commissioner Alh Ibrahim Mohammed feigned ignorance of the killing in Konshisha even though three suspects are being detained at the Police Headquarters in connection with the case.

Mohammed however disclosed that the Police was investigating all cases of political violence in the state.

He also disclosed that the Police has also arrested Maj. Enokela Okwueya (rtd), the chairman of the vigilante group in Otukpo local government area for his alleged shielding of the suspects in the killing of an aide to Gen. Lawraence Onoja in Otukpo recently.