13th November, 2017
Jethro Ibileke/Benin
The police in Benin, Edo State, have confirmed the shooting of a middle-aged man, Melody Odiazor, who was allegedly shot by members of a vigilante group.
Melody, an apprentice tipper driver, was said to have been shot alongside two other boys on the same day his father died, and their bodies were displayed at the St Saviour Police Station.
The incident occurred at about 9.00pm last Wednesday at Tipper Garage, along Saint Saviour road, in Benin.
Mother of the deceased, 60-year-old Helen Odiazor, while speaking with journalists in Benin, lamented the painful loss of her husband and son the same day.
She cried to the Edo State Commissioner of Police, Johnson Babatunde Kokumo, to fish out the killers of her son, insisting that her son was not an armed robber.
She said her husband died at an hospital on November 8, while she was informed about her son’s death at about 4.00am the following day, adding that her son who was on his way home on learning about the death of his father, was shot by the vigilante operatives at St. Saviour.
Sister of the deceased, who gave her name simply as Rachel, said some policemen told the family that their brother was not dead but was being treated for gunshot injuries, but that the police refused to disclose the hospital or take any of the family members to the hospital.
“They said there were three of them who were shot that night. Police said one died instantly, my brother was seriously injured while one is in custody.”
The State Commissioner of Police, Babatunde Kokumo, who confirmed the incident, said he has taken charge of the matter.
Kokumo said he had already invited the Divisional Police Officer of Saint Saviour Police Station and the vigilante group that killed Melody, to a meeting for proper briefing.
He said the impression given to the police was that the vigilante group had an encounter with armed robbers, but that another information had emerged about the killing.