Prof. David Salifu, a former Benue Secretary to the State Government (SSG), was shot and killed by suspected armed persons in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area, LGA, a border settlement between Taraba and Benue states, along the Wukari–Joota Road.

Salifu, a Professor of Public Administration and former Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Federal University Wukari, was apparently heading to Makurdi for the burial of his uncle when he encountered the attackers.

After being shot during the assault, he was taken to a hospital in Wukari, where medical professionals extracted bullets from his stomach. After being moved to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Makurdi, he passed away from his wounds on Thursday at around midnight.

Salifu and his driver were returning to Benue from the Federal University Wukari when they were ambushed, according to Mr. Ben Ekah, a former assistant to the deceased who verified the story.

The gunmen stopped their car, pulled the former SSG out, and tried to take him away, according to the driver's account.

“The driver said they were coming from the Federal University Wukari where Prof. Salifu lectures when they were waylaid along the Wukari–Joota Road, a border route between Taraba and Benue states.

“The attackers were trying to take him away, and he kept asking them what they wanted. As they continued dragging him, one of them suddenly pulled out a gun and shot him at close range in the stomach.

“They abandoned him after the shooting, leaving him in a pool of blood. His driver, however, managed to take him back to Wukari, where surgeons successfully removed the bullets from his stomach.

“On Thursday, he was referred to the Federal Medical Centre in Makurdi for further treatment, but sadly he passed away around midnight,” Ekah said.

Before the deadly attack, he had left a Senate meeting at the university to attend his uncle's funeral, he said, describing the late Professor as a modest and peaceful man.

Source