Benue governorship aspirant shot as gunmen abduct wife, house help

• Orbunde, chief of staff to erstwhile Gov. Samuel Ortom, suffered a gunshot wound to his right arm in the attack.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirants in Benue in the 2023 race, Terwase Orbunde, was attacked on Friday.

Orbunde’s wife and house help were abducted during the attack, according to the police.

Orbunde, chief of staff to erstwhile Gov. Samuel Ortom, suffered a gunshot wound to his right arm in the attack.

Police spokesperson in Benue, SP Sewuese Anene, confirmed the incident to journalists on Saturday.

She disclosed that the gunmen attacked Orbunde and members of his household in Makurdi, the state capital, as they were returning from the farm.

She said Orbunde reported the attack to the police and a team of detectives was quickly despatched to the scene of the assault and recovered the politician’s car.

Ms Anene assured that the assailants would be tracked and arrested and the abducted freed.

Witnesses said Mr Orbunde, his wife and the house help had gone to inspect the weeding of their farm located close to the road.

After paying the workers, five gunmen attacked them and ordered their victims to follow them to an unknown destination, but discarded bleeding Mr Orbunde, who was too slow to keep pace.

The gunshot caused villagers and passers-by to scamper to safety in different directions, the witnesses said.

A family source told journalists that the assailants demanded a N100 million ransom on Saturday for the release of the two women abducted