The killers of Dr Terkura Suswam, the elder brother of a former governor of Benue State, Senator Gabriel Suswam, might have made their intention known earlier as they were said to have communicated to the family their plan to kill a member.
A source in Anyiin, the country home of the Suswams, said, “The assailants had a week ago written a letter and dropped it in front of Dr Terkura Suswam’s gate in which they said they must kill any of Gabriel, Chihin and Terkura.
“The three are siblings, with the deceased being the eldest.”
This was corroborated by another source in the town, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the incident.
It was gathered that the deceased, who owned a private polytechnic in Anyiin, known as the Ashi Polytechnic, and was a lecturer there, reportedly told his students during one of his lectures that if his death would bring peace in his land, he would gladly offer himself.
Though the source could not say if the deceased or any of the family members reported the threat letter to the police, no member of the family could confirm the receipt of the letter as of the time of filing this report.
The state police command had earlier deployed more men to the country home of the former governor of the state, Gabriel Suswam, in Anyiin, Logo Local Government Area of the state.
This followed the killing of his elder brother on Tuesday.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Catherine Anene, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.
“Anyiin town has been cordoned off by additional police teams deployed to assist the division to nip this crime,” she stated.
Meanwhile, Governor Samuel Ortom has described murder of Terkura Suswam as shocking.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, the governor tasked security operatives to apprehend and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Ortom said his administration would give security operatives maximum support to ensure that the killers were arrested and made to face consequences of their action.
The statement read in part, “Governor Ortom stresses that his administration will not surrender Benue to criminals, and gives assurance that killers and kidnapers operating in the Sankera axis of the state won’t go unpunished.
“He sympathises with Senator Suswam and the rest of the family, as well as the entire people of Logo Local Government Area over the painful death of Chief Terkura Suswam.”
A source said Terkura was at the site of a building that he was putting up when gunmen, numbering four came in a vehicle, approached him and shot dead on the spot.
The source stated, “When Chief (Terkura) got to the building site with his son, he requested a seat and sat down, while supervising the building project.
“He was still sitting down when the gunmen came in a vehicle and shot him at a close range. He died on the spot.”
