From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
Gunmen on Tuesday reportedly killed a staff of Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc and set ablaze three of its equipment and 20 hectares of rubber plantation in Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo State.
Addressing newsmen at the company’s office, spokesman Fidelis Oliseh said the gunmen numbering six, stormed the plantation with AK-47 rifles and shot at one of their workers at close range and he died on the spot.
‘A group of individuals came into our plantation to attack our workers and our equipment,’ he said.
‘The security rushed to the scene. They were attacked by gunmen wielding AK-47s.
‘They shot at them (that is our security personnel) and they were driven back by the furious attack given them by the security forces.
‘In the meantime, they were trying to protect four excavators that were working on our plantation and they managed to rescue one excavator.
‘Unfortunately in the scuffle, the gunmen shot dead one of the operators.
‘It was a close range, he tried to jump down from the excavator to get away, they caught him, put the gun to his head and assassinated him and threw his body into a trench.
‘They then proceeded to set other excavators that were within alight.
‘They set the three excavators alight and later proceeded to the rubber plantation which was close by to set it alight as well.
‘Regrettably, the company lost also 20 hectares of rubber due to the fire that they started,’ he said.
Mr Oliseh said the company at the moment, is trying to work together with the security agency to see how it can carry on but stressed that as of now, the army is in control of the whole area.
Oliseh maintained that they have also closed the company because of the insecurity and the gunmen attack, adding: ‘We are not allowing anybody in or out at this point in time for fear of further reprisal until the army has said we can open.’
He said the recent attack on the company’s personnel and its facilities was a result of the determination of the state government to put an end to illegal logging and thus decided to turn the heat on Okomu Oil Palm Company.
He said the company is solidly behind the state government moves to get rid of all forms of criminalities in the state.
The Edo State Police Command spokesperson, SP Bello Kontongs, when contacted, said the Command had not been briefed about it.