Father of 3 abducted, killed by friend

MAKURDI — A 39-year-old father of three, Tartseagh Boshien, has been reportedly kidnapped and killed by a gang allegedly led by his friend (names withheld) in Makurdi, the Benue State capital. Vanguard gathered from a reliable source that the deceased who was a senior driver with the Benue State Urban Development Board left his Makurdi home last weekend to attend a wedding ceremony at Udei, in Guma Local Government Area. According to our source, “he did not make it to that wedding ceremony as he was kidnapped and taken to Adaka, a community located in the outskirts of Makurdi town. “His kidnappers waylaid him on his way to Udei and took him at gunpoint to a bush at Adaka village where they forced him to drink a poisonous substance. “After they made him drink the substance, he was asked to make a call to his wife and family members to bid them farewell. But while making the call, he passed out, but his abductors, who were led by his supposed friend, abandoned him in the bush and fled. “Luckily, a group of farmers discovered him and used his cellphone to contact his wife, informing her of her husband’s condition and location. “His family members hurriedly mobilised to the scene from where they took him to the Makurdi Federal Medical Centre, where he managed to narrate his ordeal and his people immediately alerted the Police. “And as fate would have it, the leader of the gang trailed him to the hospital, probably to ensure that their victim actually died. “On sighting the leader of the gang of kidnappers, though he was still conscious but could no longer speak, recognized his supposed friend, made gesticulations to his family members, informing them that the friend was part of the gang that abducted him. “The supposed friend was immediately arrested by the Police and is currently being detained and interrogated by detectives at the state command headquaters but unfortunately we lost Tartseagh few minutes later.” Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Deputy Suprintendent Daniel Ezeala said the command had commenced full scale investigations into the matter.