By Ozioruva Aliu, BENIN CITY
Many people in Uromi, the headquarters of Esan North-East Local Government, Edo State, are still skeptical about what would befall them as life begins to crawl back to the town.
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This was evident on Wednesday, which was the market day and the ever busy Mission Road, where the biggest market in town is located, was devoid of the usual heavy vehicular and human traffic.
Many young people have continued to express their frustrations with what the police are doing as a result of last Thursday’s incident, as they have allegedly turned it into an extortion spree.
They alleged that people were being picked at random and made to cough out huge sums of money or threatened to be taken to Abuja as an active participant in the incident.
N300,000 ‘bail’
It was gathered that the police were collecting N300,000 and above from those who fall into their trap.
There is the story of a young man, who just came in from abroad and was picked by the Police. He was said to have transferred N1 million to the officers before they let him go.
A young man told Vanguard in Pidgin English: “Make dem do come dey go because no be wetin den send dem, naim dem dey do now” (They should leave us alone, because what they are doing is not what they were sent to do).
Another resident, Prince Eugene Olumese, said: “This development is affecting everybody here. Now the Police are arresting everybody.
“Young boys do not want to stay up to three in a place. Yet there are reason why people should stay. But such gatherings no longer happen in Uromi because of the fear that Police will just come and arrest anybody.
“So as we speak, both the innocent and guilty are being arrested by the Police. We are now at the mercy of the Police because the local vigilante that has been helping has been suspended.
“Yet criminal Fulani herdsmen are still in our forests.”
Police react…
However, the Police authorities advised those affected to show evidence, so that necessary action would be taken.
They promised to do their discreet investigation on the allegation to know if it is true or not.
The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, of the Edo State Police Command, Moses Yamu, told Vanguard: “It is not just enough to allege that the Police are extorting, they must have done it to one or two people.
“These people should let us know or show proof then we can investigate. I may not be able to tell you that it is not true. But I cannot also say it is a fact since there is no evidence.
“What I promise we will do, I will make some enquiries and also put an eye on the ground there.”
On someone paying one million naira, Yamu said: “That one is on social media. And I have chatted with the person who posted it to provide me with details. But till now, as we speak, he has not.”
Scene of incident deserted
Indication that the people are still afraid of coming out fully showed itself when Vanguard visited the scene of the incident by Goodwill Junction along Old Ilushi Road.
The carcass of the burnt truck with its cargo of palm kernel shells, where the victims were said to have stayed and covered up with tarpaulin, was still there.
All the shops, churches and residential buildings in the area were all shut, as the people were still scared of a reprisal attack or Police arrest.
Even most commercial motorcycle riders were avoiding going to the area. One only agreed to take this reporter there after he identified himself as a journalist.
Banks open for business
Contrary to speculations that banks may not open fully for operations, all the commercial banks were opened to customers, Wednesday being the first working day after the Ramadan holiday.
The Uromi market, which is along the same Mission Road as the banks, was not as busy as it used to be.
Wednesday being the traditional market day, the road is usually a beehive of trading activities that result in gridlock.
“You can see that even today that is our market day, vehicles, okada and people are moving freely, people are still not free to come out.
“On a market day, every movement here is at snail speed because of the population. I have opened for business but it is obvious I will close early,” an Igbo trader told Vanguard.
‘They were not hunters’
The people insist that the victims were not hunters, as they wondered what they were doing with the undisclosed sum of money in new notes found with them.
They also argued that Uromi has being under the siege of kidnappers.
Olumese said: “You can imagine that when people are arrested in the act of kidnapping and taken to the appropriate authority, mostly the Police, in a few days to months, you see the same people walking freely.
“Your life is at risk, especially those who are to keep watch over the town, which we call vigilantes, because these people will come after them.
“So I think these are the reasons why they took the law into their hands, which is not appropriate.
“The extra-judicial killing was not right though. We are not happy about it, but there was a situation that was not remedied, that was why that thing happened.
“There are some of our young people who are entrepreneurs. They can’t build houses where there are warehouses. They build in fresh lands, which are mostly bushes and these people can no longer go to their houses.
“Prices of goods keep skyrocketing because the food we can produce are no longer available as our farmers can no longer go to their farms.
“Herdsmen will go to farms to harvest food crops for their cattle to feed on. All these are unanswered questions.”
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