Edo: 10 feared killed in renewed cult clashes

No fewer than 10 persons have been reported killed in suspected cult-related clashes in Benin and Auchi, Edo State, in the last three days.

The latest of the killings were said to be four victims reportedly shot dead on Wednesday at the Upper Mission, Okhun and Oluku areas of Benin City, the state capital.

The incidents in Benin, sources said, were connected to the unending supremacy battle between members of the Black Axe confraternity, Maphite and Eiye groups, which has snowballed into the gruesome killing of mainly youths at different areas in the state capital.

It was gathered that a popular ‘big boy’ alongside his girlfriend, was shot at a well-known hotel around Aikhionbare in GRA, Benin, by suspected cultists who allegedly operated with an unregistered Sienna space bus.

The victims, according to the report, are currently recuperating at an undisclosed hospital in the state.

Earlier on Wednesday, a revenue collector simply identified as ‘Mopol,’ was said to have been gunned down around Okhoro junction by new Benin.

Similarly, one Miss Ibrahim Happy, a final year student of Auchi Polytechnic, and another revenue collector whose identity could not be ascertained were shot dead on Wednesday in Auchi.

The late student of the polytechnic was said to be a victim of a stray bullet.

It was learnt that she was shot dead at the front of the institution’s Campus 2 gate by suspected armed cultists who were reportedly after their target, the revenue collector.

A lecturer of the polytechnic who craved anonymity while confirming the incident said the area has been tense since the incident occurred on Wednesday.

The lecturer said, “Cult-related clashes have become a trend among young students in Auchi in attempts to outsmart one another,” he said.

When contacted, the spokesman for the Edo State Police Command, Chidi Nwabuzor, said he was still waiting for a report from the Divisional Police in Auchi, concerning the killings in the polytechnic town.

On the reported killings in Benin, he said, “No recent killings in Benin, that was in the past.”

Punch