By Peter Duru, Makurdi

There was tension in Makurdi, Benue State capital, yesterday, when aggrieved youths in the town sacked the palace of the paramount ruler of the town, Ter Makurdi, Chief Sule Abenga, razed some buildings and vandalized six cars packed  in the palace.

An eye witness said the youths had stormed the palace, located by the ever busy Makurdi-Otukpo highway, at about 9am,   protesting the alleged involvement of  a relative to the monarch in criminal activities in the town.

According to the witness, the youths barricaded the highway and demanded that the paramount ruler produced the said relation to explain his alleged involvement  in rising crime wave in the town.

“They insisted that the young man should be produced to explain his alleged roles in several crimes in the town, and when it was becoming obvious that the royal father and his family were shielding him from ‘justice’, the youths became infuriated.

“It was at that point that they decided to move into the palace to search for and arrest the young man, but the situation degenerated when guards within the palace resisted the move.

“The mob resorted to destroying several cars that were packed within the vicinity and in the process also touched some buildings in the palace while the paramount ruler and his family members ran for their lives.”