Posted by From Mohammed Abubakar, Jos on
BARELY three weeks after an unsuccessful murder attempt on a governorship aspirant of the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD) in Plateau State.....
BARELY three weeks after an unsuccessful murder attempt on a governorship aspirant of the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD) in Plateau State, Arc. Pam Dung Gyang, another gubernatorial contender was found dead yesterday, increasing the wave of political assassination in the state.
The body of Mr. Jesse C. Aruku, a former Chairman of Bassa Local Council was found in a bush between his council area and Kabong in Jos North. The state Police Commissioner, Mr. Richard Chime, confirmed the murder yesterday, but declined to give details, pending the outcome of investigations.
Only last Tuesday, a pressure group, the Berom Democratic Forum, (BDF), at a media briefing, Jos raised an alarm on the high wave of political assassination attempts in the state and tasked law enforcement agencies to curb the trend.
The Guardian gathered from family sources that Aruku's final journey began last Friday, after a political rally of the party held in his council. After the rally, he came back home at about 8 p.m., changed into a casual dress of a white vest and faze cap bearing the insignia of Governor Joshua Dariye.
He was said to have told his wife that he wanted to go and pick his car from the mechanic. On his way to the mechanic, he was abducted by a gang of unknown persons suspected to be assassins and taken to an unknown destination. His wife became apprehensive when he had not turned up at about 10 p.m and called his mobile telephone.
The phone kept ringing without his anwsering, prompting her to alert her husband's political associates, who immediately raised a search team to look for him. Meanwhile, the wife kept calling the number throughout the night, but to no avail.
However, at about 10 a.m on Saturday, when she repeated the call, a man reportedly picked the phone and told her: "Look, your husband is safe, any time we finish with him, we will return him to you".
Throughout Saturday, his associates were looking for him, until yesterday, when a Fulani herdsman saw the corpse in the bush and alerted the people around.
"Being a former chairman of the local council, the people quickly recognised him and promptly took his corpse back to his home in Bassa and from there to the Air Force Hospital in Jos," a source said.
Another of his associates who spoke to reporters, said he was found stabbed three times while there was a rope tied around his neck. Associates and sympathisers meanwhile, have reportedly been trooping to his home to commiserate with his wife and family members.
Recently, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, David Michael, and a motor-cycle operator, whose identity is yet to be established, lost their lives.
Other prominent politicians whose lives have been threatened of recent by alleged assassins include, Victor Lar, a member of House of Representatives and a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, (ANPP), Mr. Steve Marah, a former Senatorial aspirant, Mr. Dan Tenshak, a Permanent Secretary in the Plateau State Government and Mr. Haruna Dariye, a businessman.