In what seems like a continuation of last week’s attack, gunmen on Monday killed one person, burnt seven vehicles, three houses, and injured several others in Marioghionba community, one of Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc’s neighbouring communities in Ovia South West Local Government Area, Edo State
According to members of the communities, this latest attack is connected to last week’s attacks on Okomu Oil Palm Company PLC facilities which left three of the company’s workers dead.
Some eyewitnesses who pleaded anonymity claimed they believed the attack on the community was because majority of the residents of the community are workers of the company.
The eyewitness revealed that the gunmen arrived the community at about 12:15am Monday morning, shooting sporadically into the air before unleashing terror on the community.
They added that the gunmen thereafter went around the community where they burnt down two trucks used to convey workers from the community to Okomu, one 15-seater bus, and four cars.
The also burnt down three houses belonging to members of the community, macheted a prominent community leader who is currently in critical condition in the hospital and killed a man who was relaxing in front of his house.
One of the victims who gave his name as Peter, whose car was burnt by the gunmen said, he was woken up by the heavy gunfire in the community.
He added that the gunmen later broke the windscreen of his truck, and deflated the tires before setting the truck on fire.
He said “initially when I woke up after hearing the heavy gunfire, I looked through the window all I could see was armed men going towards my truck, destroying the glasses before setting it on fire”
“When I heard them coming towards my house, I had to scale through the window into the nearest catholic church for shelter, where I stayed until early morning”
It was also gathered that the gunmen after killing the man left a note on his body with a list of demands addressed to the Edo State Government demanding amongst others the creation of an Ijaw local government area in Edo State, recognition of their right as not slaves to the Bini people, the call for the Binis to leave Ijaw land and a call for the board of Okomu Oil Palm Company PLC to accord them their rightful place in the company.
According to the letter, the gunmen who claimed to be members of Freedom Fighters for an ethnic group said they are ready to unleash more mayhem on the local government area if their requests are not immediately attended to.
It was learnt that some members of the community have fled their homes while others who said they have nowhere to go are calling on the state and federal government to immediately send security personnel to protect the community.
