Published on: 21 October 2021 at 17:00 By Onepage Africa
For months after a Bini Youth leader Anthony Aluyi was attacked, abducted and he divinely escaped, following bold intervention of nearby vigilantes, it could not be verified that any culprits have been brought to book.
Aluyi was abducted sometime on 18th January, 2021, but narrowly escaped from the unknown gunmen who swooped on him at the popular Ramat Park, Ikpoba Hill, Benin City, Edo State.
Eye witnesses who said he had just come out of a political meeting with some members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Oredo Ward Youth Wing, when the assailants waylaid him, consistently averred that the attack might not be unconnected to either cultists or Niger Delta militants needing him to get to his younger brother, who had earlier escaped their dragnet.
While doing a follow up on the story more than six months after, a correspondent was told that the police investigation was ongoing, even though, no culprits had so far been arrested over the attack.
“You are interested in a case of a man who luckily escaped from his abductors, when those alleged to have even paid ransom cannot be apprehended,” asked a Police Inspector, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
He highlighted that though the Force had arrested several suspects and criminals; he was not aware that any, so far, had confessed to participating in the attack.
He affirmed that Police men were deployed to the area; while the case was referred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for further investigation.
When the Edo State Police Public Relations Officer PPRO, Mr. Kontongo Bello, was contacted, he said he needed more time to react, stressing that he was not the PPRO when the attack occurred in 2021.
“That period, I was not the PPRO”, the amiable Edo State Police Spokesman said, highlighting the need for more time, to better familiarise himself with the story.
The attack, according to an eye witness, caught everyone napping, as the assailants, while shooting sporadically, had grabbed the popular youth leader, threw him inside a getaway car and sped off.
“But luckily, the traffic that day was heavy; and so, by the time we mobilized and fought back, the abductors showed their desperation as they engaged the local vigilantes in a shootout, during which one vigilante was shot and seriously wounded.
“But, the vigilantes stood their ground until the attackers saw the odds rising against them; and they finally abandon him and fled,” he stated further.
