Benue State commissioner of police, Mr Haliru Gwandu who described the incident as wicked said that a 55-year-old man identified as Aniete, from Akwa Ibom state took Cephas Benin to work at a plantation but unknown to late Aniete, Cephas had his eyes on Aniete’s motorcycle. The police boss explained that after killing his victim, Cephas took the motorcycle to where it could b
e sold and in the process, he was nabbed.
According to him, “this is a very pathetic situation because this man he killed took him out for a job to make money and this boy took a cutlass and cut the victim from behind and ran away with the motorcycle abandoning the dead man there.
But God punished him because God knows he was wicked to the victim. As he was making arrangement to sell the motorcycle, the people insisted he must produce the receipt before they could buy it and while he was pretending and confused as to what to do next, my men accosted them at the check point and he finally confessed and was arrested.
Narrating how he murdered Aniete, Cephas said: “I killed Aniete but poverty made me to commit that crime. What happened was that he took me to Benin to work but while we were coming back I asked him to stop somewhere and I took the cutlass I saw around to kill him. We work at Okomu Rubber Company but he told me there was a job in Benin that he would take me to.
So he took me to Benin and while we were in the rubber plantation, I decided to use the cutlass to kill him because I wanted to steal the motorcycle so that I can sell it to make money. But I was arrested when I went to sell the motorcycle in a nearby community. They asked me for the receipt of the motorcycle but I could not produce it and that was when they suspected that I may have stolen it.
I told them the receipt was at the rubber plantation, so they followed me back to where I said I came from. It was while we were on our way that the police stopped us at a check point and they told the police they were taking me to look for the invoice of the motorcycle. The police started interrogating me and I told them what happened and they arrested me”.
Asked about the whereabout of his parents, Cephas said “I don’t know where they are now because I came to Benin when I was 14 years old and have been tapping rubber. I believe poverty forced me to kill this man and I am so confused about what to do now. I pray God to forgive me and help me come out of this problem. I just don’t know when I took that cutlass to kill him”.
Meanwhile, some cultists who masterminded mayhem in Federal Polytechnic Auchi last week which led to the death of two students were also paraded. CP Gwandu who claimed that his men has dealt with the issue of cultism very well in Edo state said, “You cannot expect crime to be eradicated overnight. As the society is dynamic the same way it is in the fight against crime.
I want to say that the command is blessed with a very vibrant unit of anti-cultism. The officer who is charged with that duty is doing his best as he has reduced the issue of cultism to the barest minimum. Haven seen his modus operandi, his level of professionalism, I requested the IG of Police to deploy him to this command so that we will continue to wrestle that menace called cultism.
Don’t forget that in the past we knew cultism to be only in the universities and polytechnics but right now mechanics, bus drivers, cultural associations are all members. But I am happy to report that the issue of cultism has been reduced to the barest minimum. As for Auchi polytechnic, I think any time those institutions are about to go on vacation you found students coming out with their spiritual nonsense because they consider it a spiritual power to join a cult group.
It all started when one cultist, I think a Black Axe member attacked a member of Vickings and killed that member. The same Vickings members went to trace who did it and they retaliated. But as I am talking to you, the kingpins of those cult clubs and those who masterminded the killing have been apprehended and we are going to fish out whosoever have a hand in it. Cultism is a menace which we are fighting and very soon we will be through with that scourge.
“Let me make a clarion call to the good people of Edo state, we all know that civilization started from this area, we also know that Western education started here, there are so many people here who are well vast in knowledge, they should tell their wads to keep away from some socio-cultural clubs that will make them commit atrocities.
Schools should be able to know the characters they admit and the ones they admitted, they should be able to monitor their activities. Four decades ago, those who went to universities, knew about Kegite clubs but they don’t kill anybody. So I wonder why students now take pleasure in killing themselves. Of what benefit I don’t know. But anybody caught will be dealt with seriously so as to serve as deterrent to others.
