● Gunmen abduct three siblings conveying mother’s corpse for burial In Benue
The engine coughed. Then died.
Three siblings sat in silence inside the vehicle, the weight in the back seat heavier than grief itself — their mother’s corpse, brought all the way from Abuja for burial in Iklenyi, Okpokwu LGA.
They had planned to arrive before sunrise. To lay her to rest with dignity. They didn’t know the road had other plans.
—BANG! BANG! BANG!—
Sporadic gunshots tore through the 3am quiet.
In Omutele community, doors slammed shut.
Elijah, a native, whispered into his phone hours later: “We heard sporadic gunshots between 3 and 4am today and we thought it was the Fulani herdsmen that were attacking our community. But when day broke, we learnt that gunmen kidnapped some people who were escorting the corpse of their mother from Abuja to Iklenyi community.”
Between Omutele and Ankpechi, headlights flashed. Voices barked orders.
The siblings’ vehicle, already stranded with a mechanical fault, became a trap.
The gunmen didn’t care that the vehicle carried a corpse. They didn’t care that the journey was for a burial. They took the three siblings. Into the bush. Into the unknown.
The mother’s body was left behind on that lonely road.
—Hours later. Ohimini LGA Secretariat—
Hon. Gabriel Adole Oche James, Chairman of Ohimini LGA, confirmed it with a heavy voice:
“Yes, I am going to the scene of the incident now to ascertain what really happened.”
—Police Headquarters, Makurdi—
DSP Udeme Edet, State PPRO, picked up the call: “I have not yet received the report from the DPO. I will call you back.”
The call never came.
—This is not the first time—
Just last Thursday, on Ochadamu–Ejule road in Kogi, another convoy was ambushed.
Mourners were conveying the remains of FRSC Deputy Corps Commander Augustine Ikwue to Otukpo, Benue.
Gunmen struck. Abducted them. Even seized the corpse briefly — before abandoning it for burial.
In Benue tonight, a mother’s final journey has been hijacked
And three children who only wanted to bury their mother… are now the ones missing.
[Source: Nigerian Tribune]
