A FORMER Secretary to the Benue State Government (SSG), Professor David Salifu, has died after sustaining gunshot injuries during an attack by suspected bandits along the Wukari-Zakibiam road on the border between Benue and Taraba states.
News Point Nigeria reports that Salifu, who served as SSG during the administration of former Governor Gabriel Suswam, died in the early hours of Friday while receiving treatment at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, following the attack which occurred on Thursday.
The late Salifu was reportedly travelling from Wukari in Taraba State to Makurdi in Benue State on Thursday morning when suspected bandits intercepted his vehicle on the outskirts of Wukari.
Witnesses said the attackers, believed to be kidnappers, flagged down his vehicle and ordered him to alight and board a motorcycle. He was reportedly shot after challenging the assailants.
Salifu was also a lecturer at the Federal University, Wukari, Taraba State.
Confirming the incident in a telephone interview with journalists on Friday, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Benue South Senatorial candidate and a close associate of the deceased, Chief David Olofu, said Salifu succumbed to his injuries in the early hours of Friday.
“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.
Olofu disclosed that the former SSG was initially rushed to the teaching hospital in Wukari before arrangements were made with the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Wukari, who released an ambulance and 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 died in the early hours of Friday,” Olofu added.
