The Benue State Police Command has confirmed the killing by bandits of Mr Tavershima Adyorough, Principal Senior Special Assistant to Gov. Samuel Ortom on Knowledge Economy and Investment.

Adyorough was also a member of the Benue Economic Team.

Mr Bashir Makama, Police Commissioner in Benue, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Makurdi, that Adyorough was killed in the early hours of Sunday.

“He was killed in his house by bandits, who also shot his wife. The woman is currently responding to treatment at a government hospital in Makurdi,” he said.

The commissioner said that the motive of the killing was yet to be established, but expressed optimism that the culprits would be apprehended and brought to book.

“We shall fish out the perpetrators of this heinous crime and bring them to justice,” he vowed.

He appealed to members of the public with any clue to volunteer same to the police to assist the search for the murderers.

NAN reports that Adyorough’s is the fourth assassination case involving one elder statesman and top government officials in Benue, since Ortom became governor in 2015.

Among those murdered are Mr Denen Igbanan, Ortom’s Special Assistant on Special Security, Mr Joseph Tondo, Buruku Local Government Chairmanship aspirant, and Chief Atoza Hindan, an elder statesman.

Meanwhile, Ortom has challenged the police to immediately arrest and prosecute the killers of his aide.

According to his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Terver Akase, the governor said that the killing was “unacceptable” and ordered security agencies to swing into action so as to arrest those responsible.

Ortom described Adyorough as a “competent and dependable aide, who delivered on assignments with dedication and honesty”.

He pledged to support security agencies in apprehending the culprits.