“The perpetrators of this dastardly acts will be made to face the full wrath of the law. They cannot go unpunished. My intelligence and tactical officers are on their trail, they can run but cannot hide. We must surely fish them out. Some suspects have been apprehended, arms and deadly weapons recovered,…… investigation is ongoing”.
These were the words of the then commissioner of police in Edo State CP Foluso Adebanjo while commenting on the separate killings and wanton destructions of property recorded in Aruogba community, a suburb of Benin City, Oredo local government area of Edo State few years ago.
During the full-blown deadly crisis which records revealed started on Saturday, November 22, 2014 with the burning down of private residential and commercial buildings along with vehicles, motorcycles, wheelbarrows, household items, plastic chairs and canopies used for commercial purposes including their storehouse were not spared in the violence.
One Andrew Idehen, 22 was killed while many others sustained varying degrees of wound in the fracas.
Thereafter, the actors alleged to be members of the then factionalized and now proscribed Community Development Association (CDA), of Aruogba started hunting themselves by taking vengeance to the doorsteps of their enemies.
For instance, on January 11, 2015 the factional Chairman of CDA, Aruogba Village, Okoro Ogbaretin was ambushed and shot dead by one Ikponmwonsa while his aide Kennedy sustained bullet injuries in the community.
On January 27, 2015 the village second in-command also known as deputy Odiowere Pa Goodluck Uwumarogie Osayande was trailed by his assailants to his in-laws residence at Irhirhi Village a neighbouring community where he was beheaded and his head taken away. Checks revealed that his headless body has been buried by his children while a manhunt for the perpetrators continued.
Also, on Thursday, March 3, 2016 an 81-year-old Chief Priest, (Ohen Ogba N’Uku N’Ogunnamen of Aruogba) Clifford Omosomwan Omoregie was shot dead while sleeping on his bed at his residence 1b, Omosomwan Street, Aruogba community.
Confirming the gruesome murder to our reporter, the police public relations officer that period DSP Osifo Abiodun said “the perpetrators of the dastardly act will not go unpunished…… we will not rest on our oars until the perpetrators are brought to book”.
Osamwonyi Osayande was also trailed and murdered at Okhoro area in Benin City on July 26, 2016.
Police investigations further linked some killings in the state capital to Aruogba communal violence following the arrest and confessions of some suspects.
The then police boss having arraigned some of the suspects before an Oredo Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Benin City stated that the police command had commenced a well-coordinated manhunt for others at large.
Among them were Osadolor Kennedy, Nosakhare Omwanghie, Osaremwinda Maxwell Osasogie, Saturday Osayande Omo, Jude Terry Aisien and one Desmond Ogieriakhi alias ‘live bullet’ notorious for organising attacks on embattled communities.
They were identified as hoodlums hired and deployed to execute the evils plotted by their paymasters entangled in the leadership tussle.
Some of those arraigned and remanded in prison custody for allegedly conspiring with others, at large, to unlawfully possess fire arms, live cartridges and other dangerous weapons to unleash violence on some persons in Aruogba were Efe Aimiyekagbon, Charles Osayande, Emmanuel Ewansiha and Iyangbe Osazee.
Also, the then embattled CDA factional chairman Mr Williams Aiyamenkhue along with some others were arraigned and remanded in prison custody.
Last weekend, Our crime reporter MIKE OSAROGIAGBON revisited Aruogba village to ascertain how life has been with the bereaved families and security situation in the community since 2014 when the trouble erupted.
His first point of call was the residence of Aruogba Village head (Odiowere) Pa Ewansiha Owieadalor who bemoaned the calamities that befell his ancestral home.
Pa Ewansiha said the killings of his second in command late Goodluck Uwumarogie and some others had really affected the peaceful communal coexistence hitherto enjoyed by all inhabitants of the town.
He said almost all the indigenes were affected by the crisis as some have repaired/rebuilt their affected property but lamented that lives lost are irreplaceable.
The Odionwere however thanked the Edo State government and Benin monarch Oba Ewuare I I for disbanding the Community Development Association (CDAs) in the state.
The village head explained that one Omorodion has been appointed Okaevbo instead of the outlawed youths and CDA chairmen in compliance with the Oba palace directive.
He appealed to the police to step up investigation with a view to bringing the killers of his kinsmen to justice.
The arrest, prosecution and appropriate punishment for the masterminds and perpetrators of the violence, he noted would further assuage the pains of his people.
At the residence of the slain Chief Priest, his two wives Mrs Grace and Elizabeth Omosomwan, mothers of eight and seven children respectively said life had not and would never be the same again as the vacuum left by the killing of their breadwinner is widened by the day.
The two widows said their children had been responsible for their welfare since the tragic murder of their husband.
The second wife Mrs Elizabeth Omosomwan recounted how gunmen stormed the compound about 1a.m, aimed through a Louvre window, shot and killed her husband who was sleeping on his bed.
Both widows who said their children did not live with them in the community decried the inability of security agents to arrest and prosecute the killers of their heartthrob.
“I am not happy that nobody has been arrested or convicted to tell the world what my husband did”. Mrs Elizabeth Omosomwan stated.
The palace of the Chief priest (Ohen) located about 100 metres away from his private residence was desolate and unkept during our reporter’s visit.
Bereaved family of the beheaded deputy Odionwere was said to have been away to Benin City during the visit.
Investigation revealed that palpable insecurity still pavades Aruogba Village as most of the residents are non-indegenes who had no connection whatsoever with the disturbances.
It was further observed that some indigenes were yet to return as evident in commercial and residential buildings still under lock and key with grasses in the various compounds.
Commenting on the development, the Spokesman for Edo Police Command DSP Chidi Nwabuzor said the police had not relented in their investigations.
DSP Nwabuzor assured that murder is a crime against the state and the perpetrators of Aruogba would not escape justice.
He however enjoined the people to be vigilant and report to the police whenever the suspects are found.
