A former President of the Customary Court of Appeal, Benue State, Margaret Igbetar, has been murdered in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
It was gathered that Justice Igbetar was murdered at her residence at No. 1 Wantor Kwange Street opposite the Benue State University, BSU, School of Medicine, Gboko Road, Makurdi.
A reliable source said she was assassinated by yet to be identified persons and her body was discovered days after she was murdered.
As at the time of filing this report, details were still sketchy to ascertain whether the retired Judge who was found in a pool of her blood was shot or stabbed by her murderers.
According to a police source who spoke anonymously, the retired Jurist must have been murdered by yet-to-be-identified persons.
He also noted that the state of her remains indicated that she must have been killed days before her corpse was discovered on Thursday.
The source disclosed that the police were alerted of the development by the young son of the deceased and they wasted no time in visiting the scene and also ensured the evacuation of the lifeless body of the jurist.
He said: “Yes, Justice Igbeta has been murdered. Yesterday, Thursday, August 24, 2023, her lifeless body was discovered in her house but the corpse was not looking too okay again.
“What that meant was that it couldn’t have happened that yesterday, Thursday, maybe a day or so before it was discovered and reported to the police.”
He assured that the police were already investigating the matter to unravel the masterminds of the murder.
It was also gathered that before her demise the 73-year-old jurist who retired on October 17, 2015, was said to be living a private life and was hardly seen in public.
Acclaimed to be the first female lawyer of Benue origin, Justice Igbeta was in 2019 enmeshed in alleged N800 million proxy bank account controversy.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, had in September of that year dragged her before an Abuja High Court over a proxy bank account she allegedly operated in the name of her housemaid which had a fix deposit of over N800 million.
The anti-graft agency sought an interim injunction of the court for the forfeiture of the said fund which it claimed was obtained through fraudulent activities in the course of doing her job.
Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent, SP, Catherine Anene said she was yet to receive full details of the incident.
