Gunmen Kill 66-Year-Old Community Leader, Shoot 4 Others in Benin

The spate of violence and wanton killings in the country continued over the weekend when some seven gunmen, armed with lethal and sophisticated weapons, attacked and killed a  66-year-old community leader in Ugbowo area of Benin City, the Edo State capital.

According to Premium Times, an online publication, the deceased, John Asemota, was the Odionwere (Clan Head) of Power-line community at Ugbowo.

According to eyewitness accounts, the  assailants had carried out the  attack on the late Mr. Asemota’s residence at about 9:30 p.m. and shot him in the head and back.

The deceased person’s son, Osemudiamen Asemota, said three of his father’s tenants were also shot.

While his father died on the spot, his tenants were rushed to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), where they are now receiving treatment.

Osemudiamen said the incident was reported at the Ogbowo Divisional Police Headquarters, which responded promptly by coming to the scene shortly after the incident occurred.

“It was the police that took my father’s body to the mortuary, while they also rushed those who were shot to hospital for medical attention.”

He, however, ruled out possibility of robbery, alleging that his father was killed over community issues.

Some of the wofficers at the Ogbowo Divisional Police Headquarters confirmed the murder, but refused to comment on the incident.

Pleading anonymity, one of the officers who was drafted to the scene of the incident said the matter would be handled appropriately.

And in a related development, the family of a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, leader in Akwa Ibom State, Albert Ukpanah, who was murdered in March by unknown assassins in his residence, has called for the release of their son arrested allegedly in connection with the killing.

Late Mr. Ukpanah, an engineer and outspoken opposition politician from Ukanafun Local Government Area of the State, was hacked to death by assassins in the night of Wednesday, March 12, in his Mbiokporo street residence in Abak, Abak Local Government Area.

The deceased was said to have been murdered few hours after he returned from a political meeting in the area during which he was allegedly given some undisclosed amount of money from a high ranking citizen of the state.

During the burial of the deceased on May 24, Governor Godswill Akpabio assured the family that security agencies in the state had been directed to comb everywhere and fish out the murderers of the politician, who was known for his strong opposing views on zoning of political offices.

However, rather than the assassins, the late politician’s only son, Odudu, 30, a Physics graduate from the University of Calabar, who is also a post-graduate degree holder in Gas and Petroleum Management from the Coventry University, United Kingdom, was arrested three days later on May 27 and accused of being the mastermind of his father’s killing.

The young Ukpanah, who was said to have been the only person at home with the father when the assassins visited, was initially remanded in police custody before he was charged to court for murder based on section 38, Volume 2, Laws of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria 2000.

For the past seven months, his formal trial has been stalled repeatedly, while the police have continued to keep him in prison.

But concerned about his condition in prison, the family on Friday issued a passionate save-our-soul (SOS) plea to the state governor, Godswill Akpabio, to order the security agencies to immediately set their only son free and allow him come home for Christmas.

One of the late politician’s daughters, Uduak Ukpanah, a lawyer, who spoke on behalf of the family, said the continued imprisonment of her only brother, Odudu without trial was taking a high toll on the entire family.

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