By Raymond Gukas, Jos
Gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen have killed Mr. Wetle Gona, elder brother to a serving Deputy Inspector General of Police, (DIG) Benson Gona.
The assailants stormed Aloghom village in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State and killed Wetle, who also doubled as aide of the Mishkagham Mangu (District Head) John Putmang.
Narrating the incident to the Stefanos Foundation, a Christian organisation foundation located in the state, the 24-year-old son of the deceased, Dommun Wetle Gona said the gunmen came to their house and beat him mercilessly as they shot his father at close range when he could not produce the “guns” his younger brother the DIG was alleged to be hiding in the village.
According to him, “It was about 8pm when they came into our house, they first asked of my father, and when they saw him, they said to him, ‘Your younger brother who is a DIG in the Nigerian Police Force had brought guns to you and we have come to collect them’. But when my father said he knows nothing about what they were asking, they shot him to death there and then.”
“They then started beating me and asked me to show them where the guns were. They took me to my uncle’s house (My father’s younger brother, the one they were accusing of keeping the guns – it is a new house that my uncle just finished building, close to our family compound), they broke some windows of the house and a door and opened the ceiling in search for guns.
“When they could not find anything, they took me back to my family house and asked all of us to lie down on the floor. They then collected N30,000 from my mother before they finally left.”
The traumatized son of the deceased further explained that the gunmen were more than three in number. Some were in the house while others stood outside.
He also said that the gunmen did not hide their faces, and even though the family could not recognize any of them, he affirmed that from their looks and the language they spoke, (Fulfulde and Hausa accent) the gunmen were Fulani.
The usual market in Mangu LGA, which holds every Friday could not hold today as expected due to the current incident.
Late Mr. Wetle who was said to be a respected member of his community left behind 7 children and a wife, Mrs. Cecelia Wetle.
Son of the deceased, who was mercilessly beating by the gunmen is currently receiving treatment at a hospital while the burial of the remains of his father will be announced in due date.
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