The former Secretary to the State Government in Benue State, Professor David Salifu, reportedly died in the early hours of Friday after sustaining gunshot injuries from bandits.

Professor Salifu served as SSG under the administration of Gabriel Suswam.

He was also a lecturer at Federal University Wukari and was reportedly shot by bandits on his way to Makurdi on Thursday.

A source further said that after stopping his vehicle, the bandits asked him to come down and climb onto a motorcycle, but he was reportedly shot when he challenged them.

A close confidant of the former SSG and the Benue South senatorial candidate of the African Democratic Congress, David Olofu, confirmed the incident in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Friday.

According to him, the former SSG died in the early hours of Friday at Benue State University Teaching Hospital.

Olofu said, “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 on the outskirts of Wukari.

“They 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 severity of the injury, we spoke to the Vice-Chancellor of Federal University 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 died in the early hours of today.” (Tribune News)