Gunmen suspected to be bandits were reported to have killed a commander of the agro-ranger of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, identified as Mike Ode.

The incident happened at Shaapera community in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue state.

The deceased’s uncle, Nicholas Ode said that 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 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 were able to kill up to 10 of them.

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

The NSCDC Command Public Relations Officer, Superintendent of Corps, Mike Ejelikwu, who confirmed the incident, said that the death of the personnel would not deter the command from performing its constitutional mandate of providing security for every law-abiding citizen in the state.

He said, “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 investment.”

He added that the deceased was killed during a gun duel with the bandits but added that there was heavy casualty 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,” he said. (The PUNCH)

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