Confusion in Benin as gunmen beheads 85-year-old community leader

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.“Some persons have been arrested in connection to the incident.

PUNCH.