An ex-convict, was on Tuesday burnt to death by a mob for snatching a motorcycle opposite the NNPCL mini station, located closed to Tito-gate on Ibrahim Kashim road in Makurdi, the Benue State Capital.
Spokesman of the Nigeria police Command in Benue State, Udeme Edet, said the victim had only recently been released from the correctional centre in Makurdi, where he had served a sentence for the same offence.
“Immediately we received the report, the Command promptly sent a team of officers there, but before they could get there, some people around had set him ablaze.
“We later discovered that the victim was recently released from a correctional centre, he was said to have been jailed for a similar offence”, she said.
A witness, Andrew Tergu told journalists that the incident happened this morning at about 8:30 am when people were boarding commercial motorcycle riders, either to work or markets.
The suspected bike snatcher had picked the Okada man and directed him to drop him at behind total filing station, off Ibrahim Kashim road in Makurdi, according to Tergu.
The witness also stated explained that on reaching the area, the suspected thief immediately came down from motorcycle, stabbed the motorcyclist multiple times and zoomed off but a mob gave him hot chase after someone the raise alarm.
He said the rider of the motorcycle died instantly at spot due to heavy bleeding from his stomach and chest.
“They used stones, plunks and iron on the thief and thereafter, put tyre on his neck, then set fire on his body. This is good for the thief.
“I believe others who engage in this kind of criminality could seen what happened today. Maybe next time, they will not try such thing again”, he said.
