Suspected gunmen kill Edo hotelier

Upper Sakponba area of the Edo State capital of Benin was once again in the news as gunmen suspected to be cultists struck on Monday night and killed one Mr Okunkpolor Osatohamwen Von.

The late Okunkpolor, the husband of Mrs Anita Okunkpolor, a Benin-based journalist was murdered at a popular hotel located in Upper Sokponba, Ikpoba-Okha local government area.

It was gathered that the assailants who stormed the hotel, wounded some guests with broken bottles before they opened fire at the 43-year-old Okunkpolor.

Panicky guests who sat at the relaxation spot in the hotel where the deceased worked ran for dear lives when the volley of shots rang out even as the victim writhed in pain in the pool of his own blood.

The gunmen reportedly fled into the night before some policemen attached to the nearby Ugbekun Police Station arrived the scene to remove dead body of the father of two Children.

In deep despair, the widow wept uncontrollably during a condolence visit by the leadership of Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).

Her elder sister, Mrs Stella Maikudi, said she stumbled on her in-law’s death on Monday, February 19, 2019, at about 1:20 am through some posts on Facebook.

She said the social media by some unidentified person was littered with facetious red herring, and captioned Okunkpolor Von “murdered in cold blood”.

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According to her, the sad news set the family in a panicky mood and so decided to proceed to the hotel to find out the true position of things.

In tears, she explained that some close family members were consequently advised to hide the secret from her and take the grief-stricken wife somewhere before going to the Central Hospital, Benin to identify the corpse.

She added: “At about 5 am, Anita who had heard the tragic news came to meet me in my apartment and informed me that she received a phone call from an anonymous caller that her husband has been shot dead.”

Speaking in a telephone interview, the spokesman of Edo State Police, Mr Chidi Nwanbuzor who confirmed the incident said the late Okunkpolor was apparently caught in the middle of a deadly gunfight between two rival cult groups (Aye and Eiye) at the premises of the hotel on the night of Sunday Monday morning.

He said: “I don’t know if he’s a husband of a journalist. Two rival groups (Aye and Eiye) engaged themselves in a shootout at the premises of the hotel, the manager was hit by a bullet and unfortunately, he died. The Police are on top of the situation.”

The Chairman of Council, Sir. Roland Osakue NUJ who led the delegation to the immediate family of deceased in Benin called for an independent inquiry into the alleged murder.