Gunmen kill NSCDC personnel in Benue

A commander of the Agro rangers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, identified as Mike Ode, has been killed by suspected bandits in Benue State Command.

Our correspondent learnt that the tragic incident occurred at the Shaapera community in Gwer West Local Government Area of the state.

Nicholas Ode, the demise’s uncle, said his brother was brutally killed in Shaapera village in Gwer West LGA on Monday adding that the corpse had been deposited at the morgue of the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi.

He said, “We were told that he went for a special assignment at Shaapera village. It was there that they had a confrontation with the herdsmen and during the gun duel, they confirmed that the NSCDC was able to kill up to 10 of them.

“Unfortunately, we were told that one of the four civil defence guys, which was my brother, was gunned down while others escaped.”

Mike Ejelikwu, the NSCDC Command Public Relations Officer, who affirmed the incident, noted that the death of the personnel would not discourage the command from performing its constitutional mandate of providing security for every law-abiding citizen in the state.

He said, “The NSCDC has a specialised squad called the Agro rangers located across Gwer West, Logo, Apa, Kwande, and Guma among others to provide security for Agro-allied investments, be it animal husbandry and crop production.”

He added that the officer was killed during a gun battle with the bandits but stated that there was heavy fatality on the part of the bandits.

“We lost one agro ranger who incidentally was the commander of the operation,” adding that the command was already in touch with his family.