Benue: Army Denies Gov. Ortom Victory Dance, Kills Gana; Questions Over His Killing |The Source

By Adesina Soyooye

For the Governor of Benue State, Samuel  Ortom, it is a victory dance suddenly cut short. It is like snatching a scoop of ice cream from a child’s mouth.

Just when Ortom was all set to receive, and embrace a long wanted, and awaited criminal, and show him off as one of his achievements in a long fight against criminals, the army snatched the show from him, and spoilt his fun.

For years,  Terwase Akwaza, popular as Gana, and the Benue State Government have had a running battle.

This magazine gathered that, initially, Gana was a security informant, who partnered with the State Government to fight criminal activities.  He helped keep the Benue -Taraba road safe.

But they fell out, and the relationship went sour.

Gana, then, turned around to make the road very unsafe with his criminal gang.

In 2015, the Government granted amnesty to many of the criminals, including Gana. But it did not work.

In 2017, Gana was declared wanted, dubbed the most wanted criminal in the area, with a focus on causing mayhem in parts of Benue and Taraba states.

A-N10 million bounty, some day N50 million, was placed on his head.

Recently, Governor Ortom, again, granted amnesty to criminal gangs, including Gana and his group.

It was working out well. Many of the criminals were surrendering with their arms, and agreed to a rehabilitation. Ortom was happy. He wanted peace in his state, and was ready to give an arm for it.

Tuesday, it was the turn of Gana and his group. They set off from their enclave somewhere in Nasarawa State. Ortom was elated, and all ready to receive them.

He was waiting for them, and set to make a big splash of the surrender of Gana and his gang. It was going to be the high point of the success of his Amnesty programme.

But it went awry.

Along the Gbese-Gboko-Makurdi Road, Gana and his group were intercepted by Soldiers at a roadblock.

This magazine was not able to confirm what happened, but the initial story was that they were arrested by Soldiers.

This much was confirmed by Governor Ortom who said Gana and company were on their way to surrender and embrace the amnesty as offered by the Government. Ortom said he could not explain why they were arrested since,  apparently, the army knew about their movement to Makurdi to surrender,  based on the amnesty offer by the Benue State Government. Ortom said he was waiting for Gana, and for an explanation on why they were arrested.

Later, those with him were, reportedly, allowed to move on.

But soon, the storyline changed. The army issued a release that Gana was killed in a shoot-out with soldiers.

Major General Moundhey Ali, Commander, 4 Special Forces Command, Doma, Nasarawa State, confirmed Gana’s killing, following what he described as “an exchange of gunfire.”

General Ali: “About 12:00 hours on Tuesday,  we received strategic information on the movement of the dreaded bandit, Terwese Akwaza Agbadu, aka, Gana, along Gbese-Gboko-Makurdi Road.

“Troops of Operation ‘Ayem Akpatuma 111’, moved swiftly and mounted roadblocks along the routes.

“At about 13:00 hours, there was an engagement with the convoy of Gana, a shoot-out ensued, and the bandit was killed.”

Ali, also, said 40 armed members of the gang were captured, and a large cache of arms and ammunition, recovered.

Many people in Benue say Gana was judicially murdered, and worry how his killing would affect the credibility of  Governor Ortom’s amnesty programme.

They say it could be interpreted that Gana was lured out with the Amnesty deal and, later, sold out.

A high profile Benue Government official, who pleaded anonymity, wondered if the Benue state Government did not inform the Military of Gana’s movement to Makurdi to embrace the the Government’s offer of amnesty. “This is not good at all”, he said, adding: “How many Boko  Haram people have been killed by the Military on their way to embrace Amnesty? They are being rehabilitated. Why was Gana’s case different? His killing has dented the Benue Government’s amnesty programme, and put the Governor’s credibility on the line.”

Benue state Government   has yet to comment on the killing of Gana at the time of filing this report.