Dennis Mernyi
The Middle Belt Journalists Forum, MBJF has lamented the circumstances that led to the mysterious death of the Vanguard newspapers in National Assembly Correspondent, Mr Tordue Henry Salem.
The Police Friday announced in Abuja that they had broken the deadlock over the sudden disappearance and eventual death of the Journalist by arresting a commercial driver, 29-year-old Itoro Clement who was paraded on Friday in Abuja for running over the Vanguard Reporter.
Salem had been missing since the night of October 13 when he closed from work. Frank Mba, a Commissioner of Police and Force PRO had told protesting journalists of the NUJ FCT Council/ Middle Belt Journalists Forum, MBJF that Tordue was still alive at the time they marched to the force headquarters in Abuja.
Mba said six persons were arrested and interrogated and useful information was extracted from them. He assured me that the police were on top of the investigation. The police and cautioned against giving out information on their investigation as that may jeopardize their fact-finding.
Questions like who was holding Tordue that the Police assured of his safety, Mba declined further comments.
Since he went missing, prominent Nigerians including the Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom had called on the Police hierarchy in Abuja to deploy high profile investigations to ensure the safety and rescue of the Journalist.
Three Senators, Gabriel Suswam, Order Jev and Abba Moro all from Benue called on the Police to intensify efforts to find the Journalist.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba said Itoro was arrested following an investigation by the Force Intelligence Bureau.
The suspect who drove a 2004 Model Camry with registration number BWR 243 BK confessed to hitting Tordue at about 10:00 pm on the night of 13th October 2021, in the Mabushi area of Abuja but fled the scene of the crime.
According to him, the driver, during interrogation, said, “I thought he was an armed robber that I knocked down until the following day when I saw a smashed phone on my windscreen. The phone was not working again so I threw it away.”
Explaining why he did not wait after the accident; Clement claimed that the area where the incident occurred is notorious for criminal activities.
“The place I knocked this person down, is a criminal place everybody knows that place,” he said.
The police declared Thursday night that Salem’s body was found on Thursday, November 11, more than a month after he went missing.
An indigene of Benue State, Salem covers the House of Representatives and was last seen on October 13, 2021, a situation that led to protest and agitation by the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Abuja.
