Benue state governor, Gabriel Suswam narowly escaped death on Monday when his convoy was ambushed by suspected Fulani mercenaries who engaged his security aides in exchange of gunfire at Tee-Akanyi village in Guma local government area of the state.
Governor Suswam had alongside journalists, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Terhile Ayua, the Benue state Commissioner of Police, Adams Audu and his team, soldiers, and other security personnel embarked on an assessment tour of communities that were recently invaded by the Fulani herdsmen on Daudu-Gbajimba road.
On getting to Uikpam-Mbabai, the Governor and his team discovered that the marauders had attacked and pulled out of the community that very morning, after razing down houses, barns and beheading over thirty persons whose remains laid lifeless in several houses and huts.
Unexpectedly, the military personnel on the tour decided to pull out of the tour on the ground that they were not detailed to travel with the team to Gbajimba, but the governor continued on the trip to Gbajimba.
The convoy ran into an attack at Tse-Akenyi village where fire was still raging in several houses in the entire community, while the attackers continued with the looting of the property of their victims.
Unknowing to the entourage, the marauders had taken cover in some of the abandoned houses and while Governor Suswam alighted from his car to inspect the level of destruction in the community, heavy gunfire started raving from nearby bushes.
The gunfire sparked a duel between the security personnel on the Governors entourage and the invaders who took cover in nearby bushes, which lasted for close to one hour.
Governor Suswam was however safely smuggled into his official vehicle by his security details when the shooting subsided. He didn’t cut his journey short, but went to Gbajimba, the local government headquarters as planned, where he addressed some of the fleeing locals and displaced persons.
Speaking to the aggrieved people, Suswam lamented the spate of attacks on the people of the state by Fulani herdsmen, he assured the displaced persons that the government would not abandon them in the time of grief.
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