Hafiz Inuka, Commissioner of Police, Delta State and Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta state governor.
Abasifreke Effiong & Ovedhe Hezekiah
Communities in Delta state have continued to live in fear following a surge in violent crimes during last weekend.
Scores of residents of Evwreni Ughelli North local government area, Delta State, have deserted their homes following at attack on the community last weekend.
On Saturday 10th, armed youths killed the immediate past President-General of Evwreni Kingdom, Olorogun Victor Ohare in broad day light, and no arrest have been made by the police.
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The youths vandalised and burned down three houses and two vehicles in Evwreni community located in Ughelli North local government area.
The house of Alhaji Unuagha Mumaika, a former chairman of the Delta Muslims Pilgrimage Board, was among the three houses attacked by the hoodlums.
The irate youths said to be members of the disbanded Evwreni vigilante group invaded the community following the arrest of their former leader, Mr. Tuesday Okuah, by police tactical team from Abuja over the alleged murder of Sylvester Adjogbe.
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Sylvester, a younger brother to the immediate past Executive Director of Projects at NDDC, Engr. Samuel Adjogbe, was killed by armed youths in Evwreni in July this year.
It was gathered that police detectives from the force headquarters earlier this week arrested Okuah and three others in connection to the incident.
Following the arrest, armed youths said to be loyal to the former vigilante leaders went on rampage on Saturday destroying houses and cars and killed, Olorogun Victor Ohare, the former President-General of the Kingdom.
Sources in the community said hundreds of persons have deserted their homes for fear of being killed by the arms-wielding youths.
Unconfirmed reports have it that a soldier deployed to the community to maintain peace was also shot at by the rampaging youths.
An eyewitness account has it that the irate youths had made attempt to burn down the house of the former governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor as well as that of the former NDDC EDP, Engr. Adjogbe, but were repelled by security operatives.
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The police in Delta state said over the weekend that it could not confirm the death of the former vigilante leader, but noted that the arrest of Mr Tuesday Okuah, who is rumoured to have died in police detention triggered the attack.
Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Onome Onovwakpoyeya, said police operatives have been deplored to the community to restore normalcy to the area.
“I can’t remember the number of houses that were burnt but I am aware of the incident. For now, police are trying to sue for calm. We are investigating the development at Evwreni”, the police spokesperson added.
When asked if the former vigilante leader committed suicide in police custody, Onovwakpoyeya said, “that is the cause of the problem but i don’t know. They are alleging in the community that he is dead but I don’t have that information. We’re not the ones who arrested him.”
No person has been arrested in connection to the attack.
Elsewhere in Udu local government area,
suspected assassins in the afternoon of Sunday, 11th October, 2020, killed the chairman of Udu harbour market, Comrade Freedom Odiete.
The late Comrade Freedom Odiete.
Eye witnesses said the assassins blocked late Comrade Odiete at cross and stop junction, Ekete-inland.
Odiete was trying to enter the DSC Expressway when he was attacked by the suspected assassins on Sunday.
A source explained that the assassins shot at Odiete and injured his left hand.
‘He escaped to a nearby Church (after he was shot) and hid in the toilet but the gunmen traced him by the dropping of his blood and shot him many times until he died’, one of the eye witnesses narrated.
Odiete’s remains were taken away by men of the Nigeria Police Force, Ovwian division.
Earlier that same day, Sunday October 11, 2020, at about 9a.m, a mobile police officer was shot dead at Osubi in Okpe local government area of Delta state.
The mobile police officer was said to have resisted gunmen who tried to break into a popular mall along the busy Effurun-Abraka road.
He was shot dead while attempting to stop the armed hoodlums. The deceased whose identity could not immediately be ascertained was on special duty to Delta State from Kebbi State, according to our source who pleaded anonymity.
Lifeless body of the late mobile policeman.
“A mobile police officer was shot dead at Osubi near Effurun. I can’t tell if his rifle was carted away but he died on the spot.
“The incident took place this morning at a shopping mall in Osubi. He was a mobile policeman from Kebbi State. He wasn’t an officer of the Delta Police Command”, the source said.
When contacted, the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Onome Onovwakpoyeya, confirmed the incident.
Insecurity has been on the increase in Delta state. Residents of the state have expressed concerns that despite receiving the highest allocation, the Delta state government has shown great inability to fight violent crimes and criminality.
