BENIN CITY-Following the gruesome murder of a lecturer of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) Associate Professor Omofunmwan Godwin Osaro by armed men in Benin City last Wednesday, residents have called on the police and other security agencies in the state to step up intelligence gathering and be more proactive in their operations.
The residents who expressed reservations at the “last minutes response” of the police to the midnight operation which the gunmen laid seige to blessed area of Isihor in Benin City for several hours shooting sporadically, wondered why the police and other security agencies in the area did not respond rapidly.
They stated further that with the recent case of accidental bomb explosion that claimed one life in Okpella and other incidences of violent crimes recorded in the recent past in the state indicated that the intelligence gathering squad of the state police command desires immediate overhaul.
The residents however called on the commissioner of police in Edo CP Johnson Kokumo match his words with action as on his assumption of duty in Edo he asserted that “for a police officer, a vital piece of information is worth more than one thousand AK 47 rifles”.
While expressing confidence in the state police command at reducing crime in Edo State, the residents lauded efforts of the local vigilante and operatives of Ugbowo police division who ensured that the hoodlums lost a member in the operation.
When our reporter visited the area last Wednesday, sympathizers thronged the resistance of the late Associate Professor as another building in the area also attacked by the hoodlums was riddled with bullets.
The gunmen dismantled the wire on the high perimeter fence jumped into the compound, broke an iron protector in a window and assessed the landlord apartment through the ceiling.
The landlord of the house Mr Alfred Omoregie who would have been the second victim described the experience as terrible, and assassination attempt on his life.
He said the operation started about 1am and lasted over two hours of heavy shooting.
Mr Alfred said he hid his family somewhere in the house while he engaged the assailants in self defence as he made distress calls to the police and local vigilante.
He however advised residents to always keep police emergency numbers and reserve some credits in their phones at nights.
