From Attah Ede Makurdi

The governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia has ordered security men to arrest and prosecute those who perpetrated the bank robbery incident in Otukpo.

Residents of Otukpo, the traditional headquarters of Idoma kingdom in Benue State, were on Friday shaken as heavily armed robbers stormed the ancient city and attacked five commercial banks.At the end of the incident, 19 persons were reported killed while about nine persons were also reported to have sustained serious injuriesThe governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula, regretted that the robbers attacked innocent citizens who were carrying out their legitimate business transactions at exactly the time Security Council meeting was ongoing at the Government House in Makurdi.He expressed sympathy with the families of the victims of the robbery and promised to bring the criminals to justice.The statement read, “It is an unfortunate development that people who were on duty, especially police officers, were shot and killed in cold blood by those mindless robbers.”But they cannot get away with this. Already, security agencies are on their trail and must apprehend and bring them to justice.”I therefore call on the people of the state to be vigilant and always endeavour to report suspicious movements around them at all times.”Similarly, Deputy Governor of Benue State Samuel Odeh on Sunday said the state government would do anything to ensure that perpetrators of the Otukpo bank robbery and their collaborators are apprehended and brought to book.Ode stated this in Otukpo when he visited Och’Idoma to commiserate with him and the Otukpo people over the ugly incident.He said it was a coordinated armed robbery attack on banks.Ode led a high-powered government delegation to the scenes of the robbery attack to appraise the situation.Members of the government delegation that were in Otukpo for on-the-spot assessment included the Speaker, Benue State House of Assembly Hon. Aondona Dajoh; the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Joseph Alakari; members of the Benue State House of Assembly; Special Adviser to the Governor on Internal Security, Chief Joseph Har.Others are Commander, Operation Whirl Stroke, Maj. Gen. Igbinomwaya; Commander 401 Special Forces Brigade, Brig. Gen. A. Rabiu; Commanding Officer 72, Special Forces Battalion, Lt. Col. R.B. Kefas; DSS State Director, Jonathan Kure, and the Commissioner of Police, Bathlomew Onyeka, among others.The deputy lamented that the government of Benue State is in tears over the sad incident, stressing that the level of bloodletting has never been witnessed in this land in the past.”The governor of Benue State, His Excellency, Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia has directed me and the security agents to come and do an appraisal of the situation on the ground so that we can go back and brief him for further action”.“The death of some security agents and residents of Otukpo in the robbery incident were very shocking. We are not resting on our oars until the perpetrators of the dastardly act are arrested and prosecuted.”Incident is therefore a wake-up call, since security of lives and property cannot be left in the hands of only the security agents, citizens must be willing to provide timely information to security personnel to forestall such callous acts of criminality”, Ode maintained. In his remark, the Och’Idoma, HRM Elaigwu Odogbo John, said he was overwhelmed with what happened on Friday and vowed that whoever is found to be involved in the heinous act would face the full wrath of the law.The Och’ Idoma appreciated the government of Benue State and all the security agencies that have come to commiserate with the Idoma nation for their show of concern and care, stressing that more security personnel should be deployed to the zone to assuage palpable fear by his subjects.In their separate speeches, heads of security agencies in the state, promised to continue to give priority to security issues and called on residents to always support and provide security agents with useful and timely information whenever they see suspicious movement within their locality.The Deputy Governor and his team thereafter, visited Royal Specialist Hospital and General Hospital all in Otukpo town and interacted with victims, receiving treatment for various degrees of injuries.According to reports by security agencies, gunmen invaded four commercial banks on Friday in Otukpo.The assailants numbering about 30, the report said, arrived the town on motorbikes and snatched operational vehicles from residents, and immediately engaged security personnel at the Otukpo divisional police headquarters and the banks in a firefight, killing nine persons including the DPO and three police personnel.The armed robbers, according to an eyewitness, first attacked the Otukpo Vigilante Office and went further to attack the Police Divisional Office and disarmed all the policemen on duty before carrying out the robbery, shooting indiscriminately.Divisional Police Officer of Otukpo Local Government Area, CSP John Adikwu, including three women police and 13 civilians were killed in cold blood during the armed robbery operation.The banks affected includes: United Bank for Africa, Access Bank, Zenith Bank, Stanbic Banks and First Bank Plc.An eyewitness identified as Hon. Emmanuel Ekoja said the robbers used two hilux vehicles and one other small car to carry out the robbery which lasted for more than two hours.According to him, before Friday, some hotels in Otukpo started witnessing unprecedented customers.”In a day, they would come like three to four in numbers, next day same thing until Friday when they struck.“We have never witnessed this kind of operation in Otukpo. Yes, there have been a series of unfortunate armed robbery and kidnapping cases but never a broad daylight bank robbery.”It is strange because the incident caused a huge stir in the town as residents, particularly traders abandoned their wares and homes for fear of being killed,” he said.Another eyewitness and a community leader, Mr. Adakole Ekwu told our correspondent that not less than 19 dead bodies were found after the attack on Friday.The Benue state Police Command on Sunday said they had arrested four and killed two of the armed robbers.The command PPRO, Sewuese Anene, in a press statement made available to newsmen in Makurdi said two of the bank robbers were killed during the gun battle with a team of security reinforcement along the Otukpo/Taraku Federal Highway with many of them running into the forest.Anene noted that the police are currently on the heels of the suspects with a view to apprehend them.The Benue State governor, Hyacinth Alia has condemned the robbery describing the incident as an affront to state security.