Tony Osauzo, Benin
The reign of terror in Benin City foisted by bloody-thirsty rival cult groups has continued unabated as residents woke up yesterday morning to behold no fewer than 10 more dead bodies litter parts of the Edo State capital.
The fresh killings, which occurred between Friday night and yesterday morning, raised the death figure to about 28 persons within one week.
It was a gory sight as bodies of the victims were seen either at the centre or beside the roads and streets of Ibiwe, Uselu, Siluko and Ugbowo areas of the city.
Lifeless bodies of some of the victims were seen at Abaligbe Street junction along the Benin-New Lagos road, Omoruyi Street in Isihor community, where suspected gunmen killed one Kelly Ewemade while another was shot dead at Evidence street in Ugbowo.
Besides, at Oni street junction, off Abaligbe Street and at Oghuru junction in Iguosa along Benin-Lagos expressway, two other bodies were uncovered after the hoodlums struck in the areas.
Similarly, a young boy in his teens was shot along Siluko road while another was hacked to death near Uselu Park as residents and passersby gathered to watch the ugly scenes of the attacks.
A distraught father of one of the dead victims, Mr Etinosa Osifo, in tears, said: “I was in the house yesterday (Friday) when two boys came and called out my son; before I knew what was happening they had killed him.
“That was how I saw it. I don’t know who to meet for help, over my pains and predicament now. He is gone.”
People now live in fear in Benin, following the raging cult war and attendant upsurge in killings, just as the situation has led to closure of business premises, markets, schools and banks, particularly along Upper Sokponba, Ugbekun, Murtala Mohammed Way and Idogbo areas of the state capital.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, Johnson Kokumo, disclosed yesterday that the Assistant Commissioner of Police and two other policemen, who were shot last Thursday in Benin by the warring cultists, are recuperating in hospital.
In a related development, gunmen reportedly shot a medical doctor, Dr. Maxwell Orosanye, attached to the Central Hospital, Benin City, Edo State.
The doctor, who survived the attack, was shot at Mobil filling station along Siluko road and his Toyota Corolla car snatched from him.
