85-year-old community leader beheaded in Benin
Aruogba village in the Oredo Local
Government Area of Edo State has been thrown into confusion following
the murder of an 85-year-old community leader, Goodluck Uwumahongie, by
unidentified gunmen.
It was gathered that the late
octogenarian was shot several times by the attackers before he was
beheaded in Irhirhi, a nearby village, where he had fled to, following a
land tussle.
The headless body of the late community leaders was said to have been found in his native community at about 5.30am.
The wife of the deceased, Julie, said her
husband’s death was connected with a crisis surrounding plots of land
in the Aruogba community.
The 55-year-old widow explained that she
had hid her husband in her father’s house as a result of death threats
received from a rival faction in the land tussle.
“After we ran away from the village to
seek refuge in my father’s village at Irhirhi, a member of the rival
faction saw him here and said he would still kill him.”
“Now, I was called that my husband was
killed brutally. He was killed because of land tussle. They have been
fighting over the community land.”
Edo State Police Public Relations Officer, Joseph Edoigiawerie, confirmed the killing to our correspondent on the telephone.
He said the attakers also made away with the head of the late community leader.
He added that some arrest had been made in connection with the murder.
He said, “The matter was reported
yesterday (Monday) at the Airport Police Division by one Rufus Omoruwa
that his in-law was shot dead and beheaded.
