October 3, (THEWILL) – The Benue State Police Command has paraded four suspects in connection with their alleged involvement in the murder of retired Justice Margaret Igbetar at her Makurdi residence on August 22, 2023.
Performing the ceremony at the Force headquarters in Makurdi, on Tuesday, the Commissioner, CP Batholomew Onyeka, listed the suspects to include the deceased’s nephew, Joseph Audu, Zungwenen Ukor, Barnabas Akuhwa Tor and Igbazenda Gbidye.
According to the CP, the four suspects had conspired to commit the act and had allegedly confessed to the commission of the crime when the team of Operation ZENDA arrested them at their various hideouts.
CP Onyeka explained that the Command also recorded some breakthroughs by arresting cultists, robbers, rapists, and arms dealers, and recovered various weapons such as AK-47 rifles among others.
One of the suspects, who is a nephew to late Justice Igbetar, Mr Joseph Audu, alleged that the late Justice held land papers of his late father and refused to surrender them even when she was invited to a family meeting in Kwande Local Government Area.
Following this development, he (Audu) recruited Ukor to assist in eliminating Igbetar in order to remove the said land papers from her possession and on getting to her Makurdi residence, Ukor confessed to stabbing Justice Igbetar in the chest with a knife while Audu struck her with a stick.
Another suspect, who was a driver to the late Justice, one Barnabas Akuhwa Tor, admitted that Audu had been pestering him to remove the said land papers for him and on that fateful day, three of them came but did not tell him that their mission was to kill Justice Igbetar.
“I was at the gate and later left for Dunamis Church. When I returned, I could not find them but on going round the compound, I saw them dragging her. When I asked, they asked me to forget it,” he said.
One of the aged suspects, Igbazenda Gbidye, a resident of Ajio in Kwande Local Government Area, confessed that it was Ukor who asked him to come and show him the compound, as he was not conversant with Makurdi town.
