Edo State Police Command yesterday shed more light on the circumstances surrounding Saturday’s killing of Felix Olajide Sowore, younger brother of the convener of Revolution Now, Omoyele Sowore, by persons suspected to be kidnappers.
The command’s public relations officer Bello Kontongs, who made the clarification at a press briefing in Benin, said that the younger Sowore was not an occupant of the bus from which five persons were kidnapped.
According to him, Sowore, who was driving from Okada to Benin, when he ran into the suspected kidnappers, who were shooting at the commercial bus, which broke down on Friday night and the occupants had to find somewhere else to sleep.
Kontongs explained that the stranded commuters had returned early on Saturday to pick their personal effects from the bus, when the kidnappers, who had laid ambush, opened fire on the commuters and Sowore drove into the firing line, unknowingly.
The PPRO added that the tactical team of the command and some local vigilantes, including the DPO of Okada Police Station, had already gone into Tue bush, looking for the kidnappers, with the aim of arresting them and rescuing the victims.
The Edo Police spokesman added that three occupants of the bus, who escaped had been brought to the Command’s Headquarters and profiled, while the kidnappers had not made any contact with the police over the victims, though he would not know if the families of the kidnapped victims had been contacted.
According to Kontongs, “It has become very necessary to inform the general public because of the panic that the incident is creating among the general public, especially, the residents of Edo State, as regard the killing of one Felix Olajide Sowore on September 4, 2021 at about 6:45 hours yesterday (Saturday).
“It has become necessary for us to brief the press to inform the general public that police is on top of the situation since the incident happened. Bush combing has started, the Commissioner of Police has directed the tactical team to put hands together with the Divisional Police Headquarters at Okada for the bush combing since yesterday.
Culled from the Leadership News Nigeria
