BENUE: SUSPECTED MOTORCYCLE SNATCHER LYNCHED BY MOB IN MAKURDI
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By: Fasasi Hammad
A suspected motorcycle snatcher was on Sunday beaten and set ablaze by an angry mob near the Prime Power filling station in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
Sources said the incident followed the alleged forceful seizure of a motorcycle from an okada rider along Ahmadu Commisi Road in the Demekpe area of Makurdi.
According to eyewitness accounts, the motorcycle owner raised an alarm after the incident, prompting youths in the neighbourhood to pursue the suspect through several streets before apprehending him at the Prime Power fuel station.
A resident of the area, who identified himself simply as Tony, said the suspect was intercepted while attempting to cross the road after being blocked by traffic from Ankpa Quarter Junction.
“After snatching the motorcycle, the suspect sped off, and youths who witnessed the incident chased him,” Tony said. “He was eventually caught while waiting to cross the road, as vehicles prevented his escape.”
He added that the mob allegedly retrieved tyres from a nearby vulcaniser’s workshop and set the suspect ablaze before a police patrol team from the ‘D’ Division arrived at the scene.
The motorcycle owner, identified as Onoja Okendu, expressed relief that he escaped the incident unharmed. He disclosed that he purchased the motorcycle under a hire-purchase agreement valued at N2 million in October 2025.
Recounting his ordeal, Okendu said he was riding from the Wadata area towards the Modern Market via the NKST sharp bend when the suspect approached him.
“Because it was Sunday, I thought he had just come out of church,” Okendu said. “He boarded the motorcycle without saying anything. When we got near Demekpe Primary School, he asked me to stop, claiming he forgot something. As soon as I stopped, he pulled out a gun and ordered me to run.”
He said he raised an alarm while fleeing, attracting the attention of bystanders and other motorcycle riders who joined the chase.
Okendu appealed to the government and security agencies to strengthen surveillance and enforcement, lamenting that motorcycle snatching at gunpoint continues to occur in broad daylight despite restrictions on night operations.
Efforts to obtain a reaction from the Benue State Police Command spokesperson, DSP Udeme Edet, were unsuccessful, as calls and text messages sent to her were not responded to as of the time of filing this report.
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