Army Kills Three, Arrests Nine over Murder of Nasarawa APC Chairman

BY Igbawase Ukumba

The Nigerian Army has killed three suspects and arrested nine others in connection with the assassination of Nasarawa State chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Philip Tatari Shekwo.

The state governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Sule gave the update yesterday while hosting the national leadership of Trade Union Congress (TUC) in the Government House, Lafia.

At the meeting, the governor added that the military operatives also recovered four AK-47 guns from the suspected killers of the APC chairman.

He reassured the residents that the state still remained safe in spite of some security challenges which led to the kidnap and murder of the state APC chairman.

He said security had been heightened across the state since the murder of the late Chief Philip Tatari Shekwo as a combined military operation is ongoing to further rid the state of criminal elements.

He said the issue of security in the state “is not as bad as it’s being projected. Though it was terrible for the state chairman of the ruling party to be murdered notwithstanding, the state government has taken adequate steps to maintain security in the state.”

Sule, also, revealed that the arrest of the nine suspects followed an intense pursuit of the kidnappers of a sibling of a principal member of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly by a combined security operatives, as the kidnappers were forced to abandon their victim, who has since regained his freedom.

Schekwo was kidnapped and killed by gunmen at the weekend.
Sources said the killers arrived at Schekwo’s home on Kurikyo Road, Bukan Sidi, in Lafia around 11p.m and started shooting sporadically.

Schekwo was said to have perceived danger and made several calls to security agencies without success.

One of the sources, Joseph Gudu said the gunmen used diggers to break a door in the house before whisking Schekwo away.
Gudu said: “His wife, children and the chairman himself made several calls to security agencies in the state but nobody responded.

“The operation lasted about 49 minutes before the gunmen entered the bedroom of the chairman after disarming his security guard. They took him away and killed him just a metre away from his house. They hung his car key close to his lifeless body.”