• As Okpebholo Condemns Killing

• Orders Full Investigation

• Safiu Kehinde

No fewer than seven suspected kidnappers have been burnt to death by mobs at Uromi community in Edo state.

This was confirmed in a statement issued on Friday by the Fred Itua, the Chief Press Secretary to Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo.

According to the statement, the suspected kidnappers who has boarded a commerical truck were stopped by members of local security.

The security team would discover some guns in the vehicle which led to the mob attack on the passengers.

They were lynched and set gruesomely set ablaze by the mobs.

However, earlier reports on the incident claimed that the victims were primarily Hausa hunters en route from Port Harcourt to Kano for the Sallah festivities.

According to the report, they were intercepted around 1:30 p.m. by members of the Edo State Security Corps and local vigilantes who allegedly raised false alarm at the sight of the hunters’ Dane guns.

This led to the mob which the report claimed led to the gruesome murder of 16 travellers as against the seven confirmed by the state government.

Reacting to the tragic incident, the Edo Government House Chief Security Officer, SP Solomon Osaghale, condemned the killing.

Osaghale, who visited the scene of the incident under the directive of the state governor, reinstated that nobody has the right to take another man’s life.

He stressed that the nature of the barbaric killing was a cause of concern to the Governor who have vowed to bring the perpetrators to book as he ordered full investigation into the barbaric act.

Osaghale disclosed that four people have been arrested in connection to the killing.

“His Excellency, the Governor of Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo on getting the news of this incident, directed me to immediately come here and find out what transpired as the news of what happened here is a sign of worry to our Governor whose desire is to create a prosperous State void of dastardly acts like this.

“I can assure you that the people involved in this unprovoked attacked will not go scot -free, as His Excellency has directed the Commissioner of Police to launch a full scale investigation into the matter.

“As I speak now, over four persons have been arrested for their involvement in this ugly incidence,” he said.

The CSO called for calm, while assuring the law abiding residents ofAdemola Uromi, especially the Hausa Community in the area to go about their daily activities, as men of the Nigerian police force and other security Governor agencies have been deployed to restore peace and normalcy to the place.

Appreciating the Governor for his swift response, the leader of the Hausa Community in Uromi, Mallam Aliyu Haruna, thanked Governor Okpebholo for deploying the CSO and other security personnel to the community.

Mallam Haruna acknowledged that their presence has brought calm and reassurance to the Hausa Community in the area, as there was palpable fear and unease in their camp following the unfortunate incidence which he noted has never happened before in the local government

Haruna said: “We want to sincerely thank the Governor of Edo State, His Excellency, Senator Monday Okpebholo for his swift response to the occurrence of this ugly incidence. I must tell you that this is the first time a thing like this is happening in Uromi and it baffles me because, Uromi people have been so accommodating to us in the Hausa Community.

“Over the years, we have lived peacefully among the indigenes. Our sojourn in this land has spanned over seventy years. I was given birth to here, and so are many other people you are seeing here today.” He said.