- Police authority vows to fish out killers, bring them to book
A policeman, Inspector Onu Ako, was killed on Thursday during a homecoming reception for the reinstated Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu.
The policeman was attached to the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Monday Okpebholo, in the forthcoming September 21, 2024 governorship election in the state.
The incident occurred around 2 pm when the APC candidate, Shaibu and others arrived in Benin aboard a chartered private jet.
The yet-to-be-identified gunmen in a Toyota Sienna bus said to have positioned themselves at the exit gate to the airport, reportedly opened fire on the convoy leading Okpebholo and Shaibu which led to reprisal gunshots by armed security details attached to the APC candidate and Shaibu.
The incident caused panic among residents and passersby with businesses hurriedly closed and drivers abandoning their vehicles to escape being caught in crossfire.
It took the intervention of the mobile squad of the Nigeria Police to bring the situation under control.
It was gathered that the attackers were dislodged by the police who fired shots that subsequently forced them to flee in their vehicle.
Shaibu, who was received by large numbers of youths, had earlier instructed the crowd to join his convoy to the office before the violent clash.
A police spokesperson in the state, Chidi Nwabuzor, said the incident occurred at 11 am along the Airport Road in the state, shortly after the entourage left the Benin Airport.
He announced that the state’s Commissioner of Police, Funsho Adegboye, has issued a stern warning on political thuggery, noting that anyone culpable will be made to face the law.
He vowed that the killers of the policeman would be fished out and brought to book.
The APC and the People’s Democratic Party have traded words over the killing of the officer.
Shaibu, whose efforts to get the governorship ticket of the PDP didn’t yield results, had declared support for APC’s Okpebholo against PDP’s Asue Ighodalo.
Shaibu, who has a running battle with Governor Godwin Obaseki, returned to Edo State on Thursday after his reinstatement as Edo deputy governor by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja, months after he was impeached by the state assembly.
Aside from restoring Shaibu, the court ordered that his salaries and allowances should be paid to him from April when he was impeached as the deputy governor of the state.
The court also issued an order of perpetual injunction restraining Obaseki and the Edo State House of Assembly from stopping Shaibu from performing the functions of his office.
Justice Omotosho also ordered the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun to restore his security details.
Meanwhile, the office of the state’s deputy governor, Marvellous Omobayo, located at Osadebey Avenue in the Government Reservation Area of the state was taken over by men of the Edo State Security Network on Thursday.
It was however unclear if Omobayo was in the office at the time the ESSN men took charge of his office.
