'How goat's death snowballed into burning of residence of late Benue Gov. Aper Aku'

Deborah, son of Aku who served as governor of Benue between 1979 and 1984 confirmed that police operatives rescued six peoplefrom the building shortly before the hoodlums set it on fire.

According to her, the entire house, including properties worth millions, were burnt down.

She traced the genesis of the trouble to a man came to the house with a cutlass last month, threatening to deal with them if any of his goats died again.

According to her, the man claimed that he was told that his goat died after drinking water from the Akus’ residence.

“My mum was not around, when she returned, we informed her of what happened and she reported the matter to the police. When the police first came, he resisted arrest, but was later arrested few days after.

“When he was arrested, his father mobilised his people, numbering over 50 to our house, accusing us of kidnapping his son.

“While they were in our house, they destroyed somethings. When the police arrived, they arrested his father and later the matter was charged to court.

She said the judge who granted them bail on April 2, adjourned the case to July 1, and directed that they settle out of court.

”They promised bringing their lawyer for the settlement meeting only for us to be attacked again,” she said.

According to her, the house was attacked between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. on Monday, adding that all the six occupants were trapped inside the house.

“Over 30 of them besieged out home. When we noticed that their visit was not friendly, we locked all the doors and called the police.

“Before the police arrived , they started destroying the house, killed our dog, broke into the pig pen and took all the pigs. They also destroyed our mother’s car.

“The police arrived and were able to rescue us. We left with the police with only what we were putting on. While we were on our way with the police, they set the house ablaze with everything inside.

“The police came in two trucks but the boys were many and even attacked them too.

“On Monday when the incident occured, the police were only able to rescue us from the house before it was burnt down. If not for them, we would have probably being burnt inside the house. We were six inside the house.

“We are waiting for the police to carryout their investigations. We have also reported the matter to all relevant authorities, including the governor and Speaker of the Benue House of Assembly, because this is his constituency,” Deborah said .

Sewuese Anene, the Benue Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) confirmed the incident on Tuesday in Makurdi.

Anene, who declined further comments on the incident, however, said that investigations were ongoing to unravel those behind the burning of the residence of late Aper Aku.

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