Tension is mounting around Asaba and environs in
Delta State following the killing on Thursday of two members of a vigilance group
in Okpanam, a community adjoining Asaba, the state capital, by suspected armed
herdsmen.
A third member to of the vigilance group, which was
on a rescue mission, survived the attack by the gunmen with gunshots wound in
the leg.
It was learnt that the two members of the
community's volunteer security group were gunned down yesterday morning when
they went on the trail of kidnappers who reportedly abducted a female resident
in the area along with her young daughter at night.
The local security outfit members had taken it upon
themselves to comb the nearby bushes for the abductees by apparently walked
into the waiting hands of the armed criminals.
The incident was coming a day after Hausa traders
resisting the demolition of illegal structures in the popular Abaraka Market in
Asaba by officials of Oshimili South Local Government Council, beheaded one of
the environmental sanitation officials.
On the Wednesday killing, the Chairman, Oshimili
South LGA, Mr. Uche Osadebey, was quoted as saying that traders in the market,
which is considered by the state government as an illegal market site and a
hideout for criminals, had been duly notified of the demolition order about two
months ago.
However, the killing of the two men in Okpanam in
Oshimili North LGA triggered spontaneous reaction as angry youths of the
community barricaded the Benin-Asaba-Onitsha expressway, disrupting vehicular
and human traffic and halting social and economic activities for several hours yesterday.
Although, the protesters were eventually dispersed
by a detachment of police and other security personnel deployed in the area,
they vowed to avenge the death of their kinsmen, and this has created uneasy
calm in the area and the surrounding areas, including Asaba.
One of the deceased, identified simply as Emeka,
was said to be one of the leaders of the local vigilance group in Okpanam.
Nevertheless, the whereabouts of the kidnapped
woman remained unknown as at the time of filing this report on yesterday evening.
Meanwhile, the Delta State Police Command
spokeswoman, Mrs. Onome Onovwakpoyeya, (DSP), who confirmed the incident to
journalists in Asaba, said the two deceased vigilance group members were
unarmed when they join the pursuit of the kidnappers.
She said no arrest had yet been made as the killers
of the men were still at large.
"The vigilance group members were in search of a
woman and her daughter who were abducted earlier by the suspected
kidnappers," the police spokeswoman said, while assuring the people that
the police would do everything possible to rescue those abducted and apprehend
the criminals.
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