In a last-minute harvest of death, not less than four persons were killed in Benin City, Edo State capital, between Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon in a renewed cult clash in the city.
This was just as armed robbers went on rampage in the New Benin axis of the state capital, with Point of Sales (PoS) cash operators being the target.
At Oguola Primary School area on Thursday, the armed robbers had a field day as they attacked several PoS operators and dispossessed several other persons of their phones and other items including money. Mostly hit, apart from the PoS operators were artisans who specialise in the fixing of car stereos.
A certain Emmanuel Michael, an automobile repairer, was suspected to have been killed by a rival cult group while he was attending to a customer in the mechanic workshop located at Osasogie Street.
The armed men who carried out the execution of Michael were said to have arrived at the mechanic workshop at about 6.20 pm on Wednesday.
One of the eyewitnesses told journalists in Benin on Thursday that the gunmen shot sporadically into the air before going straight to their suspected target and killed him.
“The gun-wielding men stormed the mechanic shop at about 6.20 pm on Wednesday. Upon noticing that he was their target, the assailants immediately went straight to the said Emmanuel Michael and fired several gunshots into his head, killing him on the spot,” the eyewitness said.
According to him, “the situation forced the residents to flee the area while owners of shops quickly locked up and fled. It took the intervention of the Edo State Joint Security Team to restore normalcy in the area.”
A few hours later, an unidentified furniture maker (carpenter) was killed by gunmen at his Aragua Street workshop, off Wire Road, Benin City.
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This was in addition to the two other persons who were killed around Uwelu Spare parts market, also in Benin City.
One of the victims who was identified as David was said to be a taxi driver and was said to have been shot while he was making arrangements to tow his car. identity of the second person was still unknown.
One of David’s friends said that the victim, popularly known as Dave, while narrating the incident, said, “Dave went to Uwelu and he told me the bottom plate of his car got broken when he drove through an unfamiliar road. I called on Wednesday afternoon and he said he was making arrangements to fix the car. Later in the evening, his phone was no longer reachable till this morning (Thursday) when I now called one of our common friends who went to find out and told me Dave was one of the two persons killed. He was shot in the head.”
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Chidi Nwabuzor said he had not been briefed of the incidents but that he would make an official response after getting the details.
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