Wife of murdered Benue militia leader, Terwase Akwaza AKA ‘Gana’, has demanded N5bn as compensation from the Federal Government over the killing of her husband by soldiers.
Gana was shot dead by soldiers on Wednesday shortly after he surrendered to the Benue State government under its amnesty program.
The soldiers reportedly snatched Gana from a government convoy of repentant militants in Gboko.
Mrs Wantor Akwaza, Gana’s wife, who spoke to journalists, said, called on the Federal Government to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding her husband’s death, and also pay his family the sum of N5bn as compensation.
Narrating what happened, she said, “I was in Makurdi when they called to inform me of the incident. Senator Gabriel Suswam went to meet him on Saturday because when they went for him on the second amnesty issue, he said if he did not see Suswam, he was not going to come out. That until Suswam comes around, he will not believe that the amnesty is true.
“This is because he said that when he first came out for the first amnesty, the government betrayed him, so until he sees Suswam, he wouldn’t come out.
“So Suswam went there to meet him and assured him that he was part of it and that he has arranged everything, that he spoke to the federal security agencies and they had given him (Agwaza) amnesty and that nothing will happen to him.
“So, they went to Akume Atongo Stadium in Katsina Ala to meet with the chiefs and then surrender their weapons. After addressing them, they were going to Makurdi to finalise the amnesty at Government House. But on his way, the soldiers came and snatched him and killed him.”
She further disclosed that Gana was tired of militancy and wanted to ‘surrender his life to God’.
“After the initial amnesty he went back into the bush. When the second amnesty programme started, he was briefing me about the development.
“I spoke with him on Saturday and he told me that he was going for the amnesty and that he is tired of the life he was living. That if the amnesty is genuine, he want to surrender his life to God and work for Him.
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