A young man, identified as Ternenge Kpandegh, has landed himself in police net for allegedly vandalizing billboards belonging to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Benue State.
Trouble started when the suspect was caught by some staff of the Makurdi Local Government Task Force team at the Wurukum market area of the state on Monday morning.
The publicity secretary of the PDP in Benue, Mr. Bemgba Iortyom, who spoke to journalists at the command Headquarters in Makurdi, said when they got the news about the vandalism, they quickly rushed to the scene.
“When we heard about it, we tried to get first information about what had happened and we advised the task force to call in the police. When we got to where the task force was holding him, He is now in the custody of the police and we are here as an interested party.
“We have been suffering from such acts before where all our billboards were destroyed. We have lost count of how many of our billboards have been destroyed in the past.”
Mr Iortyom said some billboards were recently destroyed at Oshigbudu in Agatu, and in Makurdi, billboards were destroyed in Wadata, New GRA, High Level and Wurukum areas.
“We have been impressing into our members to be law abiding believing that we will get to the root of it. So we consider this to be a lucky stroke to have this culprit arrested in the act of destroying the billboards.”
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, SP Catherine Anene, declined to comment.
But an insider in the police, who pleaded anonymity since he is not authorized to speak on the matter, told our correspondent that a suspect was brought in connection with the case and that investigation was ongoing.
He stated that at the end of investigation, if he is found culpable, he would be charged to court.