[News] Suspected motorcycle thief set ablaze after allegedly confessing to killing Okada riders in Benue

An angry mob burnt a young man to death for allegedly stealing a motorcycle in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State.

The incident happened in the early hours of Tuesday, June 6, 2023.

The suspect was said to have attacked a commercial motorcyclist at Ochito-ghana and succeeded in taking his bike.

However, luck ran out on him when he took the bike to show one of his friends at Jamaica street where a keen observer who suspected him to have stolen it, raised the alarm and he was surrounded by commercial motorcyclists.

In the process of being manhandled, he confessed to have killed many Okada riders in Otukpo, including a young man whom he recently murdered at Achigili street before taking their bikes to Obollo in Enugu state where he sold them.

At the end of his confession, jungle justice was meted out to him as he was set ablaze around a wood depot in Otukpo.

“They made him walk around naked with the stolen motorcycle before they descended on him, set him ablaze and he burnt to ashes,” a witness said.

Meanwhile, the Ochotukpo Odu, His Royal Highness, Chief (Dr.) John Onuminya Eimonye, on Wednesday, June 7, condemned mob action which resulted in the death of the young man.

Speaking at his office, the royal father lamented the rate of crime in the town, calling on young people to shun all forms of crime and social vices.

He said no matter how bad a crime is, there are provisions in the law to punish offenders and frowned at jungle justice, describing it as archaic, barbaric and inhuman.