FROM IKHILI EBALU, BENIN CITY
Edo State Civil Society Organisations, EDOSCO, and GRA Association have decried the gruesome murder of a physically challenged man in Obazagbon community, Oredo Local Government Area.
Spokesman for the group, Kola Edokpayi called on the state government to ensure that the culprits are brought to book.
The victim, a deaf man identified as Efe Ogbeide, was gruesomely murdered at a project site by gunmen.
The community is said to be embroiled in a violent leadership crisis, leading to the destruction of property and loss of lives.
On his part, the Executive Director of Network for the Advancement of People with Visible Disability, Omasah Melody said the victim was deaf and could not hear when the alarm of the invaders was raised.
“While others ran away, because he could not hear, he fell into the hands of his murderers.
“We are pained. We are touched because Mrs Betty has lost a very dear husband. His children have been made fatherless.
“Ogbeide’s crime was that he went around to fend for himself and his family, in spite of his disability so that he would not to be a liability to the society.
“It was in the quest of struggling to put food on the table of his family that death met him,” Melody cried.
He condemned the frequency of communal clashes over land and its related issues which he said are becoming too many, just as he urged security agencies to rise to the occasion.
Reacting to the development, the Edo State police spokesman, CSP Moses Yamu said three suspects had been arrested over the mayhem, adding that investigation is ongoing.