NewsReports

Killings In Edo: Police Launch Investigation 

By Eben Enasco

Edo State Police Command Spokesman, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, says the Police have begun investigation to ascertain whether or not  the recent killings in Benin City, Edo State are cult-related.

Nwabuzor who spoke to our correspondent on telephone, however, reassured the public of police commitment to go after those causing unrest for unsuspecting members of the public.

His comment is coming following the gruesome murder of three persons at different locations in the State capital.

The incident which occurred on Monday afternoon when two persons were gunned down, is believed to be an offshoot of the killing of a middle-aged man identified as Ehis Dada, coming barely 24 hours after.

Dada, it was gathered, was shot dead on Sunday when some assailants who reportedly rode on motorcycles immediately chased him after he came out from a church located in the Amagba community, where he went for religious service.

While the police are yet to conclude their investigations, observers within the metropolis are saying that the latest killings are suspected to be between members of the Black Axe and Macphite confraternities.

The victims include a man identified as “Schoolboy,”  alleged to be a member of the Macphite confraternity. He was gunned down around Okhun Junction, in the Oluku area.

Assailants of Schoolboy who are members of a rival group, reportedly knocked down a police officer with their GLK 350 4Matic SUV, marked Edo: DGE 170 AL, before snatching his AK 47 raffle which they used in killing their victim.

It was gathered that, following a hot chase by security operatives, the suspects were said to have later abandoned the vehicle around the Appico area, on Upper Sokponba Road.

The two other victims whose identities and the cult group they belong to could not be ascertained, were reportedly killed at different locations in the Uselu-Ugbowo axis of Benin City.