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Worried by the increasing cases of brutal killings of female farmers by suspected herdsmen, the Edo State Government has ordered the police and other security agencies to urgently fish out those behind the attacks in parts of the state.
Deputy Governor, Comrade Philip Shiabu, gave the charge, on Thursday, on behalf of Governor Godwin Obaseki, when he paid a condolence visit on the families of late Margaret Odiamehi, who was brutally murdered in her farm, last Tuesday, by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen.
The deputy governor, accompanied on the visit by the state commissioner of police, Mr. Aliru Gwandu and Director of the Department of State Services (DSS) in the state, Aliru Ibrahim, were received by the eldest son of the diseased, Mr. Joseph Odiamehi, and other community leaders.
The bereaved Joseph explained that the search party found their mother dead in the farm after waiting beyond the expected time for her to return.
Addressing the visibly disturbed members of the Ukpenu community in Ekpoma who gathered at the residence of the diseased, the deputy governor urged the people, especially hunters and the vigilance groups, to assist the state government and security agencies by providing useful information that could lead to the arrest of the criminals.
He maintained that the state government was very concerned about the sad development called on the local communities to be very vigilant and report strange persons to security agencies.
“This is a very sad development and we sympathise with you on this. The governor got the sad news less than three hours ago and asked me to come immediately. We assure you of government commitment to eradicating the menace.
No matter what we do now, we cannot replace the loss, but I pray God to give you the fortitude to bear the loss. I also want to assure you that these perpetrators will not go unpunished.”
It would be recalled that before this unfortunate incident in Ukpenu community in Ekpoma, there had been similar incidents at Elele in Etsako West Local Government Are and Ewu in Esan Central Local Government Area of the state. Within the same period, news of herdsmen sacking school pupils from their class rooms also surfaced in Ikpoba Okah Local Government.
