Bandits Silence a Benue Legend on a Road That Should Have Been Safe
July 3, 2026 | Breaking News · Benue State · Security
He left a university Senate meeting early, not for politics, not for personal gain, but to attend the burial of his uncle. That simple act of family loyalty sent Prof. David Onu Salifu, former Secretary to the Benue State Government, into the ambush that would claim his life.
Nigeria woke up on Friday, July 3, 2026, to the news of his death. And across Benue South, across the Idoma nation, and across the corridors of Nigerian academia and public administration, the same question rang out with grief and fury:
Who killed Prof. Salifu? And why is no one answering for it?
The Last Journey
Prof. David Salifu was travelling from Wukari in Taraba State to Makurdi, Benue State, on Thursday, July 2, 2026, when his vehicle was ambushed along the Wukari–Joota Road — a border route between Taraba and Benue states. He had excused himself from a university Senate meeting at the Federal University Wukari to make the trip for his uncle’s burial.
The attackers were trying to force him onto a motorcycle. He kept asking them what they wanted. As they continued to drag him, one of the gunmen pulled out a weapon and shot him at close range in the stomach. They then abandoned him in a pool of blood.
His driver managed to rush him back to Wukari, where surgeons successfully removed the bullets from his stomach. He was later transferred to the Federal Medical Centre in Makurdi — but it was too late. Prof. Salifu passed away around midnight on Thursday. He was confirmed dead in the early hours of Friday at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi.
Who Was Prof. David Salifu?
This was not just any victim of Nigeria’s worsening banditry crisis. This was a man who had given his life to the service of his people, his state, and his nation.
Prof. Salifu was a Professor of Public Administration and former Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Federal University Wukari. He had served as Secretary to the Benue State Government during the administration of former Governor Gabriel Suswam between January 2011 and May 2015.
A close associate and ADC Benue South senatorial candidate, Dr. David Olofu, described him as “one of Benue’s finest sons — an exceptional scholar, public administrator, elder statesman, mentor and patriot whose life was devoted to the service of humanity, Benue State and Nigeria.”
Olofu said Salifu’s scholarship on governance, public policy, rural development, peacebuilding, and conflict management enriched national discourse and earned him the respect of colleagues across Nigeria. He was also an elder statesman whose wisdom and counsel were valued across political and social divides.
Beyond academia, Prof. Salifu was deeply embedded in the civic life of the Idoma nation. He chaired the Board of Trustees of Dr. Olofu’s N50 million Education Support Fund for Idoma students. He had visited herdsmen-attacked communities in Apa Local Government Area to offer comfort and solidarity to victims. He spoke publicly about the need for unity and justice in Benue South.
The cruel irony is not lost on anyone: a man who publicly advocated for peace in communities ravaged by herdsmen attacks was himself killed on the road – allegedly by suspected herders.
Who Killed Prof. Salifu?
Multiple reports identify the assailants as suspected armed bandits or suspected herdsmen — a distinction that, in today’s Benue context, is a distinction without a meaningful difference for the families of victims.
A source close to the deceased said the bandits stopped his vehicle, ordered him to come down and climb onto a motorcycle, and shot him when he challenged them. The attackers did not take anything. This was not a robbery. This looks like men who shoot civilians as a casual act on roads they have been allowed to own.
The Wukari–Makurdi corridor has been a hotspot for insecurity. This is a road that Benue and Taraba citizens use daily. It is a road where the absence of the Nigerian state is felt most acutely. Prof. Salifu was not the first to die there. But his profile means his death cannot be swept under the rug the way so many others have been.
The Scene of the Crime — and the Silence That Followed
As of the time of multiple news reports on Friday, the Benue State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Udeme Edet, could not be reached. The Taraba State Police Command had also yet to issue any official statement on the attack.
That silence is deafening.
A former Secretary to a State Government, a sitting university professor and Dean, a respected elder statesman of the Idoma nation, was shot at close range on a public road — and neither the Benue nor Taraba State police commands had anything to say to the Nigerian public.
Olofu captured the weight of the moment in stark terms: “The circumstances surrounding his passing make this loss even more painful. It is a sobering reminder of the insecurity that continues to threaten lives across our nation. Nigeria has lost a brilliant intellectual, Benue has lost a distinguished son, and the Idoma Nation has lost one of its most respected voices.”
Benue South Demands Answers
The death of Prof. Salifu lands like a thunderclap on Benue South- a zone already nursing the wounds of political marginalisation, herdsmen violence, and decades of neglect. He was one of the loudest voices for his people and, more importantly, one of the most credible.
Olofu called on the government to investigate the killing: “At a time when our country desperately needs men and women of wisdom, experience, and integrity, this loss is immeasurable. Professor David Onu Salifu leaves behind a remarkable legacy of scholarship, leadership, patriotism, and selfless service.”
The people of Apa Local Government Area, the Idoma nation, and Benue South have buried too many of their own on these roads. They have mourned too many men and women who should have been alive to lead them. They are asking – again, as they have asked for years – when the Nigerian state will secure the roads that its citizens must use.
YelloPageNews Calls for Accountability
The death of Prof. David Onu Salifu is not just a tragedy. It is an indictment.
It is an indictment of a security architecture that cannot protect one of Nigeria’s most distinguished public servants on a road in broad daylight. It is an indictment of police commands that go silent when they should be speaking. It is an indictment of a federal government that has repeatedly promised to end banditry and has repeatedly failed.
The Nigerian police, the Taraba State government, the Benue State government, and the federal security apparatus owe Prof. Salifu’s family, his students, his community, and this nation a full account of what happened on that road — and a credible plan to ensure it never happens again.
Until then, the question stands unanswered:
Who killed Prof. Salifu?
YelloPageNews sends its deepest condolences to the family, colleagues, students, and friends of Prof. David Onu Salifu. May his soul rest in perfect peace, and may justice find those who took him from us.
Tags: Prof David Salifu | Benue State | Insecurity | Bandits | Wukari | Makurdi | Idoma Nation | Benue South | Zone C | Breaking News
Published: July 3, 2026 | Category: Breaking News · Security · Benue State
