had known he was walking into his
untimely death, he would have stayed at
home last Sunday morning.
Otabor was allegedly shot dead by a childhood friend in Upper Uwa, on the out skirts of Benin City.
The incident caused pandemonium in the area after residents heard a gunshot in the
compound of the suspect and it became glaring
that somebody may have been shot. It was learnt
that the deceased, who worked with his father in
their cattle farm, woke up that fateful day at
about 7am and decided to visit a nearby street.
Sunday Vanguard was told that the deceased
went to the compound to visit one Matthew, the
suspect's younger brother who lost his father in-
law. But when he got there, he met his friend
and two other colleagues. Vanguard learnt that
as they were chatting, there was a quarrel
between the suspect and one of the other friends
identified as Ugbesia. While the quarrel
intensified, the suspect rushed to his car and
emerged with a gun to the surprise of his
friends.
But the deceased, who thought it was a mere
threat, blocked the suspect from pointing the
gun directly at Ugbesia and appealed to him to
drop the gun. But rather than dropping the gun,
the suspect shot Otabor in the chest. The father
of two fell. The friends took to their heels
without making any effort to rush him to
hospital.
It took a while before the relations of the victim
heard about the incident and rushed to the
scene. But by the time they rushed him to
hospital, he was dead. Angry youths from Upper
Uwa, where the deceased resided, stormed the
residence of the suspect and razed the house.
It was a pitiable sight when Sunday Vanguard
visited the family of the deceased as it was
revealed that he wedded his wife according to
customs and traditions of the Binis only nine
days before the murder to enable him
participate properly as a genuine in-law in the
burial of his father in-law scheduled for June.
Besides, Ameze, the wife of the victim, apart
from their two children, is carrying a
pregnancy. She lamented: "My father is in the
mortuary. I have no mother. Now my husband
who is all I had was killed by his friend". She
narrated her ordeal: "He woke up in the morning
and said he was going to see his friend but his
friend ended up killing him.
Now I have no mother, no father, no husband. If
he had known that his friend will kill him, he
would not have gone there that morning. They
were childhood friends and he (suspect) even
knows that I lost my father and his corpse is in
the mortuary yet he went to kill my husband".
The wife went on: "Now, I am all alone with
three children and pregnant. I know the killer-
friend as a 419 person because he uses different
cars and he will say he has dollars in the booth
of his car. And when my husband noticed that he
is into 419, he started staying away from him.
As a result, my husband became close to his
junior brother called Matthew. Matthew's
father-in-law died and it was actually Matthew
my husband went to greet when this incident
happened. We just did our wedding last week,
the 11th May, so that my husband will
participate properly in the burial of my father.
And the burial is coming up next month. I wish
the police will arrest this bad friend and kill him
too so that his children and wife will pass
through what I am passing through now. That is
all I am begging the police to do because I don't
have any where to go now. Who will train my
children?"
The father of the deceased, 75-year-old Pa
Otabor, said the last he heard from his son was
when he gave him some money in the morning
of the day of murder. His words: "Last Sunday,
the 19th of May, I met my son at about 7a.m.
who gave me some money in respect of a
meeting and he left home. I came back home at
about 7pm, undressed and prepared to go to bed.
But I started hearing people shouting outside
that he was dead, that one Lucky, his friend, shot
him.
I asked if it was my son they were talking about
or someone else. I came downstairs and I asked
his brother to go to the suspect's house to
check.
When my boy got there, they said they had taken
his body to hospital. He ran to the hospital and
saw him on a stretcher; the hospital said they
could not treat him until they called the police.
He died and they took the corpse to the morgue.
I went to the police and they said they were
looking for the suspect.
"The police told me they got information where
he could be and the DPO stationed his men there
since morning and asked them not to leave the
house. The door of the house was locked, so they
went for a search warrant because they said
without that they could not force the door
open".
Asked what he heard about the murder, the
father explained: "The suspect was his friend. I
heard they were about four of them in house
and an argument ensued between Ugbesia, one
of them, and the suspect. The suspect went to
bring out a gun, so my son said 'please don't
shoot him, Ugbesia is your friend; what are you
doing? Please drop the gun'.
Then he told my son to leave the road or he will
shoot him instead and, before they could say
Jack Robinson, he shot my son in the chest and
he fell. Everybody in the house ran away.
I learnt it took some persons around time to
come and take my son to hospital but it was
already too late. My son worked with me at the
cattle market and now, look at his wife and
children (weeping). My appeal is that
government should fish out the suspect. People
have been trying to phone him, he replied one of
them that he heard they had gone to burn down
his house, that he will fight back and find those
who burnt his house. But I ask him to come
out."
The Police Public Relations Officer in Edo State,
DSP Moses Eguavoen, described the incident as
unacceptable, saying the command was
investigating the matter and on the trail of the
suspect. According to him, "though we have not
made any arrest, we are on the trail of the key
suspect. The matter is being investigated
seriously and no matter how the suspect tries to
run, we will get him".
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