Last Friday, the old village of Otukpo, located in the South District of Benue state town and affectionately called “Texas” by locals, was utterly chaotic. That day, five commercial banks in the area were invaded by brave armed men in a commando way, an event that the locals had never witnessed before.
The armed men who were rumored to have stormed the town on motorbikes had previously invaded Otukpo Police Station, where they hauled away the station’s two functioning cars and disarmed the officers who were on duty.
The attackers, who may be well over 20, headed to the commercial banks, which are all situated in close proximity to one another and in the center of the town, after seizing control of the police station.
The armed guys gained easy entry to the banks and their vaults by tearing down all security barriers within the banks with the use of explosives and highly skilled firearms. The marauders reportedly hauled away large quantities of money and took a car from one of the institutions.
A few police officers and bank clients who were trapped inside the bank when the armed guys struck also lost their lives in the violent attack. Superintendent John Adikwu, an indigenous of the area, Otukpo Divisional Police Officer, DPO, and three other police officers, including Emmanuella Ankyov, a female officer, were among those who died in the violent attack.
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