Benue ex-lawmaker seeks justice over attack in church

• PSN petitions police on dead member

A former member of the House of Representatives in Benue, Mr. Orker Jev, has called on the police and other law enforcement agents to arrest hoodlums who disrupted a church thanksgiving service organised in his honour in Buruku local council of the state.

   Jev, whose second tenure at the National Assembly was aborted through a judicial process, told The Guardian in Makurdi that the attack on the church was a bad precedent for the forthcoming elections.

   Jev stated that the attackers, who came in several buses and armed with dangerous weapons overwhelmed the two policemen attached to provide security at the church service.

   “We were in the church and just about the time when offertory would be given, we heard shooting outside the church and the congregation was thrown into panic. They were smashing cars and shooting in the air to cause panic at the venue,” he stated.

   Reacting to the incidence, the PDP candidate for the House of Representatives, Mr. Joseph Tyav denied any involvement of his party supporters in the attack.

   He called on the police to unravel the attack on the church.

   Also condemning the attack, a former police commissioner, Dr. Abubakar Tsav, called on the police to investigate the incidence and arrest the perpetrators.

   He regretted the use of arms during campaigns and advised the police to embark on massive retrieval of weapons in circulation in the state to foster peaceful election next month.

   Likewise, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) Benue State chapter has called on the state Police Commissioner, Mr. Hyacinth Dagala, to investigate the brutal killing of a pharmacist, Ternenge Cletus Labe in his Gboko office recently.

   State Chairman of PSN, Inga Phil and the Secretary, Num Ayila Joseph, said in a statement issued on Tuesday that the call became necessary considering the concern expressed by sympathizers, especially youths over the death of the young pharmacist.