By MIKE OSAROGIAGBON
BENIN CITY- As cult-related killings continue to plague Edo State and other parts of Nigeria, with a police inspector being one of the most recent victims in Benin City, a distraught mother has raised alarm over threats to her son’s life.
A visibly shaken woman, who identified herself as Omoregie Felicia Edoseghe, visited the Edo State Police Command headquarters in Benin City yesterday to seek urgent intervention.
According to her, members of an unidentified cult group have repeatedly invaded her home, demanding to see her son, Omoregie Nogheghase Gideon, who had recently returned abroad after visiting her.
Narrating her ordeal, Felicia said the trouble began shortly after her son visited a popular supermarket in their neighbourhood.
“I live in Eyean Community, a suburb of Benin in Uhunmwonde Local Government Area. A day before his departure on Sunday, January 20, 2019, my son and his siblings went shopping at a local supermarket in the area. As they were leaving, two young men approached him, expressing surprise that they did not know he was in the country,” she explained.
She narrated that on Wednesday, January 23, after Gideon left, Felicia said four armed men came to her house, threatening to kill her son if he did not make himself available to their cult group.
“Since then, strange individuals have been lurking around my home. I have already sent a message to my son to be extremely cautious. Just last Sunday, my neighbour’s second son was brutally murdered in the community. I am afraid for my family’s safety. I want the police to intervene,” she pleaded.
Distraught Felicia Edoseghe however explained that she immediately reported the incident at the police station in her area but no action was taken.
Contacted, Edo State Police Command spokesman DSP Chidi Nwabuzor described the woman’s concerns as valid and deeply disturbing.
“The spate of cult-related violence in Edo is worrisome. The complainant has been directed to our Anti-Cultism Unit to officially document her case,” he said.
DSP Nwabuzor added that the police were still reeling from the brutal killing of Sergeant Oisa Monday Ehigie, a police orderly, who was ambushed and murdered by suspected cultists at Nomayo Junction, along Sakponba Road in Benin City on Saturday, January 26, 2019.
He condemned the ongoing cult violence, revealing that no fewer than 45 lives have been lost to cult-related attacks in Edo State in recent days.
“The Command has declared total war on cultists and their sponsors. We are determined to bring all perpetrators to justice,” he said.
