The Edo State Police Command has arrested John Ebatame and Moses Okoyomon, who are hunters, for allegedly shooting and injuring six persons at the burial of Martina Rabi at the Ama community in the Esan South-East Local Government Area of the state.
In a statement by the command’s spokesman, SP Kontongs Bello, and made available to journalists on Sunday in Benin, the men were alleged to have committed the offence on Friday.
The statement read in part, “On Friday, June 25, 2021, around 7pm, the Edo State Police Command, through the Divisional Police Officer, Agbede Division, CSP Iredia Ogiata, received information that there was an ongoing shooting at Ama community. On the receipt of the information, the DPO swiftly mobilised police operatives from the division to the scene of the incident.
“On arrival, preliminary investigation revealed that one John Ebatame and Moses Okoyomon were said to have used a double-barrelled gun to shoot at six persons in the community during the burial of one Martina Rabi.
“Investigation further revealed that the two followed the corpse from Ubiaja in the Esan South-East Local Government Area to the Ama community. Ebatame is said to be a hunter in Ubiaja, Esan South East LGA, and he followed the corpse from Ubiaja to the area, where he fired gunshots in the air, which resulted in the damage of the community’s electricity wires.
“The youth of Ama community, on noticing that he had destroyed their electricity wires, confronted him. In the cause of an argument, he shot at them and injured six persons namely: Matthew Enebor, Sule Kadiri, Christian Okpoke, Momodu Ambrose, Ibadan Okhere and one other unidentified person. The injured persons are currently receiving treatment at the Irrua Specialists’ Teaching Hospital.
“The Commissioner of Police Edo State, Phillip Ogbadu, warned that no one had the power to threaten other people’s lives with arms and ammunition. He enjoined the good people of Ama community not to take the law into their hands as investigation into the incident has since commenced.”
