Armed assailants assumed to be kidnappers have killed Sylvanus Namang, the ruling APC’s spokesman in Plateau.

Officials said the incident occurred on Saturday night at a leisure spot in Pankshin Local Government Area.

Plateau police spokesman Alfred Alabo said Mr Namang was shot when about seven people suspected to be kidnappers stormed the leisure spot owned by Sunny Okonkwo.

Mr Alabo said officers swung into action upon receiving information about the attack.

Plateau police commissioner Hassan Steve Yabanet directed the Area Commander and DPO of Pankshin to rescue the victims and arrest the suspects, who are still believed to be at large.

“The suspects ran away with serious gunshot injuries; the victim was rescued and rushed to the General Hospital, Pankshin, for treatment of both bullet and machete injuries,” Mr Alabo said.

Unfortunately, Mr Namang, who was rescued and rushed to the General Hospital in Pankshin, was confirmed dead by a doctor.

“After much struggling for his life, the victim was later confirmed dead by the medical doctor,” Mr Alabo revealed.

A former Governor and APC chieftain, Simon Lalong, has reacted to the gruesome killing of his party man.

In a statement signed by his special adviser, Makut Simon Macha, Mr Lalong expressed shock over the killing and called on security agencies to investigate the incident, saying “he was devastated by the news of the barbaric killing” of Mr Namang, who was an accomplished journalist, politician, and community leader.

The attack came as the state was reeling from the Christmas Eve massacre that left scores of villagers dead in an overnight assault by killer herdsmen waging a war for resource control in the central region of Nigeria.