Bandits k!ll former Benue SSG

Former Secretary to the Benue State Government, David Salifu, has d!ed after sustaining gunshot injuries in an attack by suspected bandits along the Wukari-Makurdi road.

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Salifu, who served as SSG during the administration of former Governor Gabriel Suswam, was also a lecturer at the Federal University, Wukari, Taraba State.

Sources told punch that the former SSG was travelling from Wukari to Makurdi on Thursday, July 2, 2026 when he encountered armed men who stopped his vehicle.

The sources said the assailants reportedly ordered him to alight from his vehicle and mount a motorcycle but allegedly shot him after he challenged them. 

A close associate of the deceased and the African Democratic Congress’ Benue South senatorial c andidate, David Olofu, who confirmed the incident to the publication said Salifu d!ed in the early hours of Friday at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi.

“He was a member of my campaign council and a confidant. I learnt that he (Salifu) left Wukari and was coming to Benue when he encountered hoodlums at the outskirts of Wukari,” Olofu said. 

“He stopped his car and asked him to come down but the bandits thereafter shot him.

“He was taken to the teaching hospital in Wukari but due to the seriousness of the injury, we spoke to the Vice Chancellor of the University of Wukari who released an ambulance to bring him to Abuja with a team of doctors.

“But somehow, he was taken to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi where he d!ed early hours of today.”