7th July, 2013
JETHRO IBILEKE/Benin
The sleepy town of Lampese, a border town between Kogi and Edo states, was thrown into confusion last Wednesday when the slain body of a woman was found.
The woman, identified as Mr. Itowo Ojeifo, was said to have been lured to a farm road by her two children. They then macheted her to death.
The suspected killers were the woman’s 25-year-old daughter identified as Omolayo Ojeifo (25) and Taiye, her 20-year-old son.
The machete killing in the town located in the Akoko Edo council area came barely three weeks after a retired soldier killed his wife with a machete at Igarra, the administrative headquarters the same council.
Sources in Lampese disclosed to journalists that Omolayo had accused her mother of being behind her inability to “progress in life” and had on several occasions accused her of bewitching her.
It was however said that she apologised to her mother few days before the incident, pleading for forgiveness, adding that she was misled into believing that her mother was responsible for her misfortune in life.
But on the fateful day, the suspect was said to have appealed to her mother to accompany her somewhere. Despite her mother’s refusal that she was busy with house chores and that she should wait till she was through, Omolayo was able to persuade the elder woman to abandon the cassava she was peeling and accompany her, oblivious that her daughter and son had plans to kill her.
She was said to have been led through a bush path to the farm and midway, her brother brought out the machete and started “cutting their mother.”
An eye witness who was said to have been threatened by the suspects that he would be dealt with if he reported what he saw was said to have rushed down to report to the community but before people could be mobilised to the scene, the woman had been killed by her children.
Edo state Police Public Relations Officer, Moses Eguavoen, who confirmed the incident to journalists in Benin, added that it was the former husband of the victim, Mr Sunday Itowo that made a formal report to the police on the incident.
Eguavoen said the victims ran to Uzebba in Owan West local lgovernment area of the state, but that the covert intelligence of the police led to their arrest, adding, “the case will soon be transferred to the state command for further investigation.”