Gunmen suspected to be bandits have reportedly killed a commander of agro ranger of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, in Benue State.

The deceased was identified as Mike Ode.

The incident happened at Shaapera community in Gwer West Local Government Area of the state.

A relation of the deceased, Nicholas Ode, disclosed that his brother was brutally killed in Shaapera village in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue state on Monday.

He said the corpse had been deposited at the morgue of Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi.

“We were told that he went for a special assignment at Shaapera village.

“It was there that they had a confrontation with the herdsmen and during the gun duel, they confirmed that the NSCDC officers were able to kill up to 10 of the bandits.

“Unfortunately, we were told that one of the four civil defence guys, which is my brother, was gunned down, while others escaped,” he said.

The NSCDC Command Public Relations Officer, Mike Ejelikwu, confirmed the incident.

He said the death of the personnel would not deter the command from performing its constitutional mandate of providing security for every law-abiding citizen in the state.

“NSCDC has a specialised squad called the Agro Rangers located across Gwer West, Logo, Apa, Kwande, Guma, among others, to provide security for Agro-allied investment, be it animal husbandry or crop production,” he disclosed.

He added that the deceased was killed during a gun duel with the bandits, but added that there was heavy casualty on the part of the bandits.

“We lost one agro ranger who incidentally was the commander of the operation,” he said, adding that the command was already in touch with his family.