Palpable tension is gripping Benin City, the Edo State capital, following a reported attempted assault on a presidential aide (name withheld) by cultists and thugs allegedly hired by a land speculator.
The incident happened at Iyekogba Housing Estate, off Airport Road, Benin City on Wednesday.
It took the intervention of DSS operatives on patrol to rescue the presidential aide from the thugs and cultists personally led by the land speculator described as a self-styled “pastor” and simply identified as “Sunday”.
An eyewitness claimed that before the arrival of the DSS operatives, the thugs were chanting war songs even as “Sunday” openly boasted that “even Obaseki sef no fit do me anything.”
The attack on the presidential aide, it was gathered, followed his refusal to accept a N3m offer by the land speculator “to buy him off” the land on which he has a valid C of O issued by Edo State Government years ago.
Repeated calls made to an MTN line belonging to “Sunday” were abortive, as it was ringing switched off as at the time of filing this report.
Interestingly, officials of Edo State Ministry of Town Planning had in October issued “Sunday” a demolition notice to remove an illegal structure under construction on the land as it did not have building approval. The 7-day ultimatum had since expired without the land speculator complying.
The Godwin Obaseki-led administration maintains a zero tolerance against the activities of land grabbers in the state, with a law already enacted to sanitise land administration in the state and curb “Agbero” culture. A crusade for which the governor enjoys the support of the Benin Traditional Council.
