CHUKWUDI ACHIFE, Enugu VINCENT ADEKOYE, Benin City, LUKKEY ABAWURU,

This is as rampaging armed robbery gang attacked again Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, Okokomaiko, Lagos carting away unspecified amount of money, while another gang raided houses about 500 metres away from the church.

In Benin City, a prominent medical doctor, Dr. Augustine Isemina was murdered by unknown gunmen last Friday at about 9.00 pm.
He was reportedly abducted from a church premises in a village near of the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) Benin-City by armed yourhs before he was murdered in cold blood.

At Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo main campus, three students of the university have been confirmed dead in a clash involving two outlawed secret cults, namely Eiye Fraternity and Buccaneer Fraternity.

A spokesman of the Edo State Police Command, Mr. Peter Ogboi, who confirmed the murder of Dr. Isemina said the killers would be caught, noting that assassination was strange to the state.

The late Dr. Isemina until his death was attached to NIFOR Health Clinic and his murder was coming barely a month after former Minister of Solid Minerals, Elder Moses Ugbesia’s son escaped assassination by whiskers in Benin city.

The young man had recently graduated from the Igbinedion University, Okada Town, Edo State and was lucky to have escaped the gunmen, when they were contemplating on how to carry out the evil plot.

Throwing light on the murder of the late Dr Isemina, the Edo State Police spokesman said. It was a bad development and because of the way it happened, the command shall do everything possible to ensure that those heartless killers are arrested and made to face the bitter wrath of the law.“The information available indicated that the medical doctor called Dr Augustine just closed from one of the churches located within the vicinity of the NIFOR and was about driving out of the premises when some gunmen, riding on a motorcycle popularly called okada halted him and abducted him.

Continuing, Oboi said “report said he was stocked inside the booth of his car and driven to a remote part of the village where the gunmen murdered him and dumped his lifeless body on a footpath.“Assassination in whatever form is a strange development to Edo State and the Edo State Police command is seriously worried about the latest incident and has beefed up security within and outside the village. Enough men have been mobilized to commence full scale investigation into the incident and within the next few days something positive shall be heard in the investigation carried out,” the police spokesman said.

Daily Champion gathered during a visit to the village last weekend that in reaction to fear and tension within the communit,y residents have imposed a dusk to dawn curfew in the area, while some government officials living in the village have relocated to Benin for fear of being the next victim of the ravaging gunmen.

Following the incident, Edo State Police Commissioner, Mr Bala Hassan has summoned a meeting of politicians in the state, where he read the riot act and harped on need for them to keep their followers in check during electioneering campaigns.

In the LASU secret cults’ bloody clash, the identities of dead students could not be ascertained at press time.However, Lagos State Police Command said three persons have so far been arrested in connection with the dastardly act.An eye witness said the cults attacked each other for undisclosed reasons.

We gathered that Iba village, Agboroko, Igbolerin, Oke-Odan and other places where the students reside were thrown into confusion as residents ran for dear lives as a result of the incident.

At PPL bus stop, a corpse of a young man believed to be a student of the institution was found in his own pool of blood.
Confirming the incident, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Olubode Ojajuni said the cause of the clash between the two cultists have not been established.

According to him, both group confronted themselves and attacked each other for yet to be identified reasons. Ojajuni, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) said the corpses of the deceased have been taken to the mortuary.He gave the names of those arrested as Ogunobi Oluwasesan, Ogunyemi Oluwafemi and Babaleke Feyi, noting that they were undergoing interrogation before the police.

On the raiding of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, we reliably learnt that suspected armed robbers attacked the church shortly after it held a mini-fund raising for its forth-coming harvest.

An eye witness told our correspondent that the fleeing suspects, based on information, stormed the premises, late at night demanding for the huge sums of money realized on the day.

He stated that the suspects broke into the house and quickly headed to the Parish Priest’s room in search of fund, noting that luck ran against them as the Parish Priest was said to have earlier taken the money outside the church for safe keeping.

The robbery suspects were said to have threatened to set the church ablaze if nothing tangible was recovered from the church. They were also said to have threatened to kill their source, who was said to have been a member of the church.

Our correspondent also learnt that a senior member of the church had immediately informed his gang of the fund and asked them to commence action so as to get the whole money meant for supposedly God’s work.Also at Chief Esan Way, New Okoko Layout, robbery suspects broke into several shops and carted away several valuable items including cash.

At No 56 of the street, the suspects stole about 20 bags of rice and at Dele Jagun Street, the suspects also wreaked havoc in the areas.

Addressing the community over the incident, chairman of Community Development Committee, Mr Dele Jagun enjoined the Commissioner of Police, Mr Emmanuel Adebayo to approve a police post in the area as a means of checking the robbery menace.
Jagun, however, urged youths in the area who are engaged in evils to repent of their evil ways, saying, crime does not pay.At Okokomaiko Police station, a Senior Police Officer confirmed the incident but added that the police are investigating the case with a view to tracking down the culprits.

Meanwhile, private security measures have been adopted by the church and the community.Last year, the Catholic Churches in Lagos like the Saint Leo Catholic Church, Ikeja, St Gregory, Agege and others were variously attacked by armed robbers.

Meanwhile, a mobile policeman attached to the speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Chief Abel Chukwu was shot dead in Enugu yesterday by unidentified Ogun men who also snatched the deceased’s AK 47 service rifle.
But Chief Chukwu said the incident was a case of armed robbery.

The officer, Corporal Benjamin Nwajei was killed along Lagos Street in the Asata area of Enugu Sunday at about 8.00 am as he rode on a motorcycle en route his duty post at the Speaker’s residence at the Enugu legislative quarters.

Eyewitnesses said armed men bearing Federal Government plate number knocked him down and shot him several times at close range with a pump action rifle.

Daily Champion learnt that the security aide who is a native of Delta State left the Central Police Station CPS) barracks on his motorbike to join his other colleagues at the Speaker’s quarters preparatory to a scheduled trip to Nsukka that morning but he could not get to the quarters before the gunmen attacked him.“The armed men knocked him down with their car and before he could know what was happening, they opened fire on him. He was shot on the chest and all over his body. He fell down and bled to death. Residents of the area ran for their lives when they heard the sporadic shots but they returned later only to see the mobile policeman lying in a pool of blood with his uniform,” an eyewitness said.

Chief Abel Chukwu confirmed the report in a chat with newsmen saying he was in church when the deceased corporal’s wife ran to the church to inform him of the incident, adding that he immediately rushed to the scene but did not meet the corpse, as it was taken away by his colleagues from the Mopol 3, PMF, Enugu.“It was a terrible thing. I saw a lot of blood on the ground and I could not imagine what happened.“Immediately I rushed to the Mobile Police barracks but I was told that his corpse has been deposited at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH). I also went to the Commissioner of Police to inform him of the development,” Chukwu said.He said that he was to attend a function at Nsukka yesterday and had informed his security and personal aides to assemble at his quarters for the trip after the church service but he had to put off all engagements for the day.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Mike Abattam could not be reached for his comments on the development yesterday but Chief Chukwu said the Commissioner of Police promised to launch a thorough investigation into the matter