According to Juchei, the gunmen
disguised as fun seekers before they opened fire on the unsuspecting policemen.
Juchei, who narrated the experience
said: "Yesterday, after I finished my normal duty in the morning, people
were just beginning to enter the zoo. At that time, my boss had not come. We
usually come before our boss. He eventually came around about 1pm. It was then
my turn to take over my duty. I went to tell him that I had a birthday party to
attend, he granted me permission. I left for the birthday hoping to come back to
assume duty later in the day.
"When I eventually came back around
6pm, I met three policemen lying dead on the ground. I was shocked. I saw after
people running for safety. Our boss had been kidnapped and taken away. It was
those we met at the scene that told us what happened."
She further narrated that one of the
kidnappers paid to enter the zoo with torn naira note, which was rejected by
the cashier at the gate. When the money was rejected, the kidnapper went
to get money to pay entrance fee.
Juchei said: “When the informants had
studied the terrain, one of them decided to engage our director with
conversation. Our boss started telling him his plans to put up a ‘World Tourism
Day.’ One of them went straight to the security personnel and asked him if they
had not close for the day. He ordered for drinks for the officers, who were
guards at the zoo. This was what those who were there told us. They bought
Heineken, and as the policemen laid down their guns to drink, that was when the
men opened fire on them.”
Another worker, Mr. Zontondji
Emmanuel, said that the gunmen shot at the police officers without sparing any
of them.
His words: “I resumed around 5:30pm;
as I came in, I went round to inspect the animals and the visitors on ground. I
came back to the reception where the Executive Director was sitting down, with
the men. There were two policemen sitting with him. So, I went outside to
observe outside.
“At the outside, I saw an Audi 80 car
parked and suddenly, I saw three men coming out with guns. One of them was wearing
a bullet proof vest. I thought they were normal policemen, who usually come to
the zoo for normal security reasons. Suddenly, I saw them running into the zoo
premises, which was very unusual. When they entered, they started shooting
immediately. All of us outside started running for safety. I called on people
running to give us police numbers; nobody was ready to stop because they were
all afraid.
“But at the time, I watched from
afar and I saw that the men were going out with my director. They went into the
Audi Car and zoomed away. I later saw the three policemen who were supposed to
be guarding the director lying dead on the ground. After that, the DPO came to
take the dead bodies away. Everything happened at about 5:40pm."
The Edo State Police Command
yesterday said they were working round the clock to arrest the killers of the
policemen and abductors of Ehanire.
The Police Public Relations Officer
(PPRO), a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Moses Nkombe, said: “Our men
are working on that, although we have not made any arrest.”
Ehanire, who is the younger brother
to the Minister of State for Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, was kidnapped on Sunday
evening by heavily armed men. It was in the processing of abducting him, that
his kidnappers opened fire, killing the three policemen. The policemen were
deployed to the zoo and nature garden to provide security.
The remains of the men had since
been deposited at the Benin Central Hospital's morgue in the state capital.
The state’s commissioner of police,
Mr Haliru Gwandu, yesterday, disclosed that killers of the three cops and
abductors of Dr. Ehanire are militants.
The CP stated this when he visited
the Zoo and nature garden along Airport Road in Oredo Local Government Area of
the state.
He described the ugly incidence as
unfortunate, promising that all hands were on deck to catch the perpetrators.
He said: “We lost three of our
personnel. This is the activities of the militants. They came and unfortunately
killed our policemen, but we are on the trail of the hoodlums. We were able to
recover the vehicles used for the operation. We are using all available means,
including the high tech to fish out the perpetrators. They cannot go Scot free.
Let me assure the general public in Edo State that we’re on top of the
situation and that they should go about their normal duty. All hands are on deck
to ensure that the hoodlums are fished out.
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