Scores of angry mourners on Monday took to the main streets of Benin to demand that the police expedite action in the prosecution of the alleged killer of a 63-year-old granny, Mrs Lucy Nwaorie and 38-year-old Tony Basset.
Mrs Nwaorie from Enugu State and Bassey from Akwa Ibom State were allegedly killed at suburban Aduwawa, Benin on Thursday, May 20 by a member of the Edo State Vigilante.
Nwaorie’s son and spokesman of the protesters who were clad in black, Mr Uche Nwaorie, explained that his mother, a shopkeeper was sitting in front of her shop with Bassey when they shot by the vigilante.
In deep distress, Bassey’s widow who clutched her two-month old baby wailed that things have been very tough since her husband was fatally shot.
She pleaded with the police to accelerate investigations into the killings and not sweep it under the rug, adding that the suspect was yet to be charged to court eleven days after the killings.
In tears, she lamented: “My baby was less than two years when my husband was killed. It has been very difficult to survive. I now depend on the goodwill of friends and family members to survive. The police should do something.”
Uche who is self-employed alleged that men of the state Public Works Volunteers (PUWOV) assaulted and intimidated him in an effort to prevent them from protesting the killings.
He said that eleven days after his mother and Bassey were killed, he was still trying to figure out the motive for the shooting as the police were yet to make a pronouncement on the reason for the action.
He demanded: “We don’t want this case to be swept under the carpet. The police should charge the case to court so that the full weight of the law can be meted on the alleged killer. Nobody has told me the reason for the killings. We will not rest until justice is fully served.”
Several attempts to reach the Edo State Police spokesman, Mr Kpotongs Bello proved abortive as his mobile phone was switched off.
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