The Edo State Police Command, yesterday, gave an update on how Felix Olajide Sowore, younger brother of the convener of Revolution Now, Omoyele Sowore, was killed Saturday by suspected kidnappers.
Addressing journalists in Benin City, spokesman of the Command, Bello Kontongs, clarified that the younger Sowore was not an occupant of a commercial bus from which five persons were abducted.
He explained that Sowore was driving from Okada to Benin when he ran into the suspected kidnappers, who were shooting at the bus which broke down on Friday night and the occupants had to find somewhere else to sleep.
Kontongs added that the stranded commuters had returned early on Saturday to pick their personal effects from the bus, when the kidnappers, who had laid an ambush, opened fire on them and Sowore drove into the firing line, unknowingly.
“The Sowore Felix was not one of the occupants of the bus that some of them were kidnapped. He was just someone that ran into the incident. He was coming and met the situation on the ground.
“The bus actually was coming from the South going towards Lagos. The bus belonged to a private transport company, and broken down at around 2 am in the early hours of Saturday, and the occupants looked for somewhere to sleep.
“That early hours in the morning the occupants came with the intention to pack their belongings from the bus, but unknown to them, the kidnappers have laid an ambush, and immediately they opened the bus the kidnappers came out from the bush and started shooting at the bus in an attempt to create fears in them, but some of them try to escape.
“Sowore was coming from Okada to Benin. He was just a victim. The kidnappers tried to stop him, but he refused to stop. The bullet hit his car and one of the bullets got him, and he died on the spot. He was confirmed by the doctors, and his corpse has been deposited at Igbinedion University Teaching Hospital.
“That is the situation, and the Commissioner of police is doing everything possible to ensure that they are arrested and those kidnapped are rescued”, Kontongs explained.
He announced that the Tactical Team of the Command and some local vigilantes, including the DPO of Okada Police Station, had already gone into the bush, looking for the kidnappers, with the aim of arresting them and rescuing the victims.
Besides, Kontongs said three occupants of the bus, who escaped had been brought to the Command’s Headquarters and profiled, adding that the kidnappers had not made any contact with the police over the victims, though he would not know if the families of the kidnapped victims had been contacted.
“Until now, there is no contact from the kidnappers. We don’t know if they have contacted the families of those kidnapped but to the police and those who escaped they have made no contact.
“The police is also trying to use tactical means in order to tract the kidnapped victims.
“Some of the occupants of the bus who escaped and some we met hiding in the bush we brought to the police headquarters, and we have profiled them. They are three in number”,
he said.
