The Benue State Police Command has confirmed the assassination of Tavershima Adyorough, the Principal Senior Special Assistant to Governor Samuel Ortom on Knowledge Economy and Investment.
Adyorough was also a member of the Benue State Economic Team.
Bashir Makama, the Commissioner of Police in Benue State, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Makurdi that Adyorough was assassinated in the early hours of Sunday.
Makama said: “He was killed in his house by bandits, who also shot his wife.
“The woman is currently responding to treatment at a government hospital in Makurdi.”
The commissioner said the motive of the killing was yet to be established, but expressed optimism that the culprits would be apprehended and brought to book.
“We shall fish out the perpetrators of this heinous crime and bring them to justice,” he vowed.
Makama appealed to members of the public with any clue to volunteer same to the police to assist the search for the murderers.
NAN reports that Adyorough’s is the fourth assassination case, which included one elder statesman and top government officials in Benue State, since Ortom became governor in 2015.
Among those murdered were Denen Igbanan, Ortom’s Special Assistant on Special Security; Joseph Tondo, Buruku Local Government Chairmanship aspirant; and Chief Atoza Hindan, an elder statesman.
Meanwhile, Ortom has challenged the police to immediately arrest and prosecute the killers of his aide.
The governor, who spoke though his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, said the killing was “unacceptable” and ordered security agencies to swing into action so as to arrest those responsible.
He described Adyorough as a “competent and dependable aide, who delivered on assignments with dedication and honesty”.
Ortom sympathised with the immediate family of the deceased, the government and people of Benue State on the loss, and pledged to support security agencies in apprehending the culprits.