A federal lawmaker representing Buruku Federal Constituency of Benue State in the House of Representatives, Kpam Sokpo, was mercilessly beaten in the earlier hours of Saturday in his home.
Sokpo was allegedly beaten by soldiers of 401 Special Forces Brigade at the Old Barn in Gboko Town, Gboko Local Government Area of the state.
Sokpo said he did not have an idea why the soldiers stormed his hotel room to unleash such cruelty on him.
Narrating his experience to newsmen, he said he only got to the hotel where he was staying in Gboko, Old Barn, around 2:30am when about five trucks filled with over 60 soldiers arrived.
“I sat there with some of my friends. When they alighted from their vehicles, they just took positions. I got up from where I was sitting to do something and one of them approached me and asked why I was walking in the manner I was walking,” Daily Trust quoted Sokpo as saying.
“As I was talking, he slapped me in the face. I asked why he did that and introduced myself as a House of Representatives member. I told him that he does not know me and just slapped me in the face? Before I knew what was happening, more than 30 of them just pounced on me using the butts of their guns to injure me.
“As I speak with you, I have stitches on my face, on my head and I have all kinds of injuries on my body. While this was going on, their Commanding Officer came in and calmed the situation a bit. Shortly after, they went on to harrass me and collected everything in my car including every piece of paper.
“The one who started assaulting me threatened that he could even kill me. I did not get their names because they removed their name tags before assaulting me,” he said.
As at the time of filing this report, it was not clear whether the assault was politically motivated or not, being the day of Nigeria’s governorship and state assembly elections.
