Benin City, Edo State. PHOTO: getgripng.com
The police in Edo State have confirmed the arrest of a suspected murderer whose motive behind the crime is yet to be ascertained.
But commercial motorcyclists known as Okada riders operating in Egor local government and youths of the community had protested against the presence of a suspected den for rituals at a forest located in a boundary between Ogheghe and Egbaen villages.
The okada riders set up barricades on the road after the body of their colleague was found in the bush. They claimed that other okada riders have disappeared in similar circumstances.
They were said to have identified a suspect, who hired the dead colleague two days earlier, when the suspect requested the services of another okada rider. The okada riders followed the suspect and cornered him when he attempted to divert the rider into the bush.
The Guardian gathered that the okada riders and youths accosted the suspect and beat him up, which made him to allegedly confess to the crime. He was said to have taken the mob to where he dumped the body and named other accomplices including a traditional birth attendant that use to buy the body parts.
Some witnesses claimed that the bush was filled with dead bodies and clothing belonging to victims, especially women and children.
One of the witnesses said he had earlier rescued a man tied inside the bush. He said he saw two fresh bodies, decomposing ones and human skeletons when he joined a search party into the bush.
A bike rider who pleaded anonymity said they decided to comb the bush following several incidents of missing persons in the area.
“Our people are missing everyday. On Saturday, we entered the bush and found the body of a man that was missing four days ago. The man we caught has killed many people inside that bush.
But the Commissioner of Police, Babatunde Kokumo, said the suspect was arrested in connection with murder and not ritual killing. Kokumo explained that the suspect would have been lynched if the police had not acted swiftly. “There is nothing like mass killing in Egor. No bodies have been seen. The police arrested a suspect for murder and we are doing investigation.”
