Eben Enasco Reporting.
It was anticipatory grief when Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, paid a consoling visit to the family of the now-deceased Ikponmwosa Aikpitanyi who was allegedly murdered by some police officers on Friday last week.
The 28-year-old Ikponmwosa Aikpitanyi, who is a member of the state security network operating in the Obazee axis of the New Benin zone was shot dead after a reported argument with four Police Operatives who were believed to be on routine patrol and invited to intervene by a woman who claimed she was being assaulted.
Obaseki, represented by the State Commissioner of Public Security and Safety, Omololu Ojehomon was accompanied by members of the State Security Network, led by its Coordinator OBOH-EMMANUEL OTOIDE.
The Consoling visit to the bereaved family, according to the Governor, was part of an effort to reassure the victim’s family of the government’s position on the issue.
Obaseki, who vilified the killing says
every life is important including Ikponmwosa.
The governor, however, tasked the police authority in the state to leave no stone unturned in serving Justice in the murder of a local Vigilante operative in Benin City.
Earlier, the State Coordinator, ESN, Oboh-Emmanuel Otoide who openly wept profusely, hailed the Local Security Operatives for exhibiting professional conduct by not taking the laws into their hands.
Otoide pledged to partner with relevant stakeholders to ensure that justice is delivered for the departing member of the state Security Network.
Marxist Kola Edokpayi though relatively, gutted by the incident describing it as a deliberate attempt made to kill the victim, urged the state executive arm to collaborate with the Legislative arm to make laws establishing the local security outfit to assure their welfare and make life better for those who work to guarantee lives and property are safe.
Edokpayi also enjoined the state government to immortalize the murdered Ikponmwosa as part of the undertaking to douse the heightening tension.
On their part, Ovbokhan Edokpolor the chief security officer, Obazee street, and Akpitanyi the elder brother of the deceased, revealed that Ikponmwosa was innocently killed because he attempted to prevent the couple Sunday and Rose Egboh from dumping debris into the culvert when they invited the police operatives that there was a rape adventure.
According to them, Sunday Egboh the husband of Rose Egboh who was at a drinking spot rushed to the scene of the incident after noticing that his wife was having an altercation with some people who were trying to stop her from dumping the garbage into the culverts.
They emphasized that neighbors came to resolve the issue but unknowingly to them that Sunday Egboh wasn’t going to let the sleeping dog lie whilst he boasted that he was going to deal with the late Ikponmwosa for preventing his wife, Rose Egboh from dumping the garbage she loaded in a sack bag into the culvert.
They also revealed that the culvert has become a place where dead babies from unknown persons are deposited.
Meanwhile, the Four Police officers involved in the alleged shooting alongside the couple Sunday and Rose Egboh who invited the police operatives have been arrested and are now in the Police detention
The state police Image maker, SP Kontongs Bello disclosed this while parading them on Monday at the state police command headquarters, Benin City.