The Edo State police command has dismissed rumours making the rounds that a man of Hausa extraction killed an Igbo man with a cutlass over an argument at New Benin market in the state.
The command’s clarification came against the backdrop of a viral video, which surfaced online on Saturday, that there was an ethnic fighting between the Hausas and the Ibos, after a man purportedly known to belong to the Hausa ethnic group allegedly killed an Igbo man with a machete.
Following the attack, there was pandemonium in the city center as traders, commuters scampered for safety for fear of a reprisal attack.
But, Chidi Nwabuzor, the command’s spokesman, said “the identity of the assailant is yet unknown as regards his name, address, tribe and family inclination.
“A young man whose name and address are unknown but profiled to be a mad man used cutlass to inflict bodily injuries on one Anthony Jibunor, male, of No. 116 Mission Road, Benin City, Edo State.
“The command received the distress call, Command Tactical Teams, Patrol Teams from various Police Divisional Headquarters and their various Divisional Police Officers in and around New Benin Police Divisional Headquarters were dispatched to the scene to bring down a riotous situation to normal and for protection of lives and property.
“The contingent of policemen that were dispatched to the scene met the assailant who was already in the hands of angry mob that beat the hell out of him and the victim who the assailant brutally cut with a cutlass. The assailant and his victim were rescued from the angry mob and both of them taken to undisclosed hospitals (for security reasons) for medical treatment,” Nwabuzor said.
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He said both the victim and the assailant are in good, stable medical condition.
He, therefore, appealed to the victim’s family members, friends, well-wishers, sympathizers and the general public to remain calm and avoid any act capable of causing breach of public peace, adding that the command will ensure offenders are arrested and prosecuted.
He further warned those that encourage jungle justice to desist from it, saying “no one has the right to take the life of a fellow human being instead such a perceived offender should be brought to the nearby police station for proper investigation.”
