Ex-Benue CP: My wife was killed by burglars, not assassins

Ibezimako Aghanya, a former commissioner of police, says his wife, Eunice, was killed by burglars and not hired assassins as being speculated.

Aghanya said this on Monday when Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue state, paid him a condolence visit at his residence in Makurdi.

The deceased was reportedly murdered in her home on Friday evening by unknown assailants.

She was said to have returned home on Friday evening at about 4pm and parked her car in the compound.

Her husband, who lives in Lagos, reportedly tried to reach her that evening to no avail.

He then called his younger brother who also lives in Makurdi to check on his wife.

On getting there, his brother is said to have found her in a pool of blood, while there were several cuts on her head.

The former CP said his wife’s last communication with any family member was on Friday around 12:30pm.

He said it was evident that those who attacked his wife were burglars who probably knew her very well, and therefore killed her to cover up any trace.

He added that as a retired police commissioner with vast experience in security, he believed that the killers were not assassins but thieves who came to rob her.

“I believe that someone came into the house to steal and when she came back into the house and met the person, the person probably knew her very well and decided to kill her to cover all evidence,” he said.

“It is not a case of hired assassins. It is not related to the work I did here 18 years ago as CP.  My wife is a strong woman who always refused police escort even when I was CP.”

He also pointed out that insecurity was not peculiar to Benue, and that each state has its peculiar security situation.

On his part, Ortom condemned the killing, and described the deceased as a lively woman who — from what he knew about her — had no issue or controversy with anyone.

The governor said his administration will support security agencies with everything possible to ensure that those who carried out the gruesome murder were apprehended.

He also appealed to the federal government to urgently resolve the issues between the police service commission and inspector-general of police, so that the presidential directive on the employment of 10,000 personnel yearly will materialise.

“We need security personnel. Our population has overgrown the ones on the ground. But in the interim, let our people be our brother’s keepers,” he added.