A gang of four members has confessed to the brutal killing of Justice Margaret Igbeta, the former President of the Benue State Customary Court of Appeal, citing disputes over estate ownership and inheritance as their motive.
Late in August, the police stumbled upon the decaying corpse of Justice Igbeta in her residence at No. 1, Wantor Kwange Street, situated opposite the College of Medicine at Benue State University (BSU) in Makurdi. The perpetrators responsible for this heinous act continued to evade capture.
Law enforcement authorities have given their word to solve the puzzle behind the retired jurist’s murder, assuring the public that they will spare no effort in bringing the masterminds to justice.
The State Police Command Headquarters held a press conference yesterday, during which the four suspects implicated in the crime were presented. In a startling development, these suspects confessed to their individual roles in the murder of the retired Justices and explained their motives
23 years old nephew of the deceased, Joseph Aondohemba who confessed to leading other suspects to murder Justice Igbeta said, ‘it was due to the documents of my late father’s landed property which she held on to that made us to kill her.’
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‘She refused to give me the papers and our village people used to call her over the papers which she held on to but she would always refuse to attend the meeting to discuss the matter.’
‘She also bought a land from my uncle who is also part of us that killed her. After buying the land she did not give him all his money so he needed his papers and I also needed the papers to my father’s land with her but she refused to release the papers.’
‘When we got into the house after her driver helped us gain entrance into the house on that day, my uncle, Ukor Dzungwe stabbed her on the chest and behind, while I used a stick to hit her.’
‘After that we dragged her on the floor to the kitchen. This was around 9pm.’
Dzungwe, aged 40, who confessed to the multiple stabbings of the retired jurist, explained that his involvement in her murder was driven by the deceased’s refusal to release the land-related. documents.
Speaking on how the suspects were nabbed, the Benue State Police Commissioner, Mr. Batholomew Onyeka, recalled that after the murder incident was reported, ‘Aondohemba, the nephew of the deceased was immediately arrested.’
‘A more detailed and advance investigation started when the case was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, and handed over to the Operation Zenda investigative team to continue.’
‘The suspect who eventually confessed to have planned and recruited other people to help him in killing his Aunty led a team of detectives to Adikpo, Kwande Local Government Area, LGA, where 63 years old Igbazenda Gbidye and 40 years old Dzungwenen Ukor were arrested.’
‘These suspects admitted that, Aondohemba Joseph had reported to them that his father died and left so much property in the hands of his aunty (the deceased) and she had refused to hand the said property over to him. They agreed to join him in eliminating her so that he could have access to his property.’
‘One Barnabas Akuhwa, the 32 years old brother of the deceased, who was also arrested, corroborated their statements by admitting that he was the one who allowed the gang access to the house and manned the gate for them until they finished the assassination process.’