A wave of grief and outrage swept through Ubuneke-Ivbiaro in Owan East Local Government Area of Edo State on Sunday night, after gunmen invaded a residence, fatally shot a woman and abducted her husband.
The attackers, believed to have emerged from the Ivbiaro-Auchi-Ikpeshi forest route, struck at around 8 p.m., shooting the woman in the neck before seizing her husband, Mr Arimazoya Abona, who is in his seventies.
Eyewitnesses recounted how neighbours, alerted by the sound of gunfire, rushed to the scene only to find the woman’s lifeless body sprawled in a pool of blood in front of the house, while her husband had been forcibly taken away.
Despite a swift mobilisation of local youths who ventured into the forest in an attempt to rescue the victim, their efforts proved unsuccessful.
Residents have expressed frustration at what they described as the slow response from security agencies.
The Nigeria Police at the Afuze Divisional Headquarters were reportedly notified of the attack on Sunday night but did not respond until around 8 a.m. the following morning.
When officers eventually arrived, they were accompanied by personnel of the Nigerian Army, and the woman’s corpse was taken to the mortuary.
The tragedy recalls a similar attack on March 8, 2024, when Mr Danjuma Emokpaire was killed on his farm in the same community. His body was found the next day after he failed to return home, prompting a search by concerned locals.
The community has also endured previous incidents of kidnapping, including the abduction of a farmer who was later released after ransom was paid. In one particularly harrowing case on May 15, 2017, armed men, suspected to be herdsmen, attacked a couple on their farm, brutally beating the husband and raping his wife in his presence.
A series of violent incidents, including attacks on travellers along the Ivbiaro-Auchi route, has turned what was once a peaceful area into a zone of fear. Reacting to the latest tragedy, Chief Isah Umoru Osikhekhai, the Village Head of neighbouring Ivbiokhulotor, described the killing and abduction as both barbaric and deeply alarming.
He lamented that insecurity has robbed the people of their livelihood, as many are now too afraid to go to their farms. With the planting season underway, he warned that food security is under threat.
Appealing for urgent intervention, Osikhekhai called on the Edo State Government, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, Federal and State lawmakers representing the Owan constituencies, local government authorities, and security agencies to rescue the community from further violence. “We are helpless,” he said. “We need help before these gunmen kill us all.”
