The individuals responsible for the murder of Justice Margaret Igbetar, a retired President of the Customary Court of Appeal in Makurdi, Benue State, have admitted to the crime, alleging that she had taken their family’s land.
On August 24, 2023, a group of armed assailants invaded the retired judge’s residence, which was situated on Wantor Kwange Street, opposite the School of Medicine at Benue State University in Makurdi, and carried out the deadly attack. Her decomposed remains were discovered several days later by a relative.
During the presentation of four suspects believed to be involved in the retired judge’s killing on Tuesday, Benue State Commissioner of Police Batholomew Onyeka revealed that it was the deceased’s nephew, Aondohemba Joseph, who allegedly led a gang to her residence, where the murder occurred.
Other suspects arrested and paraded were the driver of the late judge, a security man, and one other relative.
The suspected gang leader, Joseph, who spoke to journalists during the parade claimed that the deceased had his father’s landed property.
Joseph said, “She (the late judge) was my aunt and she had the documents of my father’s landed property and when we asked her, she was not forthcoming about it.
“So, I had to arrange with others, meanwhile I was not the one who stabbed her, it was Dzungwenen Ukor.”
Ukor, who confirmed stabbing the deceased, said Joseph asked him to stab her because she refused to release the documents of his father’s property he said was in her possession.
“He asked me to stab her and I did that because he had accused the woman of withholding documents of his father’s landed property,” Ukor said.
Another suspect, Akuhwa Barnabas, 32, who was recruited as a driver to the deceased two months before the incident, said he was only asked to man the gate.
He said, “I was recruited as a driver to the deceased two months before the incident and truly, they contacted me that when they get the documents and sell the property, they would settle me.
“So, I was told to be at the gate and not allow anyone to enter, and the moment they finished, they left and I also ran away to avoid arrest.
Earlier while addressing journalists in his office, the CP said, “The suspect (nephew) who eventually confessed to have planned and recruited other people to help him in killing his aunty led a team of detectives to Adikpo, the Kwande Local Government Area where the following suspects were arrested: Igbazenda Gbidye, 63, and Dzungwenen Ukor, 40.
“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 has 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 Akuhwa Barnabas, 32, a driver to 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 until they finished.”