Edo widow alleges police’s complicity in husband’s demise

An aggrieved widow in Benin City, Edo State yesterday, accused the police of alleged collusion with suspected killers in the handling of the investigation into the death of her husband, Bernard Ikuenobe, a cab driver who she said, was reportedly framed and killed by persons suspected to be street urchins.

Mrs. Patience Ikuenobe, who was at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) yesterday said she became suspicious when the police released two suspects, identified simply as Ajayi and Ajasco, from custody.

She said they were principal suspects in the murder of her husband, which was said to have happened on January 2, 2016 between Onaiwu Street and Owina community, off Ekehuan Road in the Edo State capital.

The late Bernard was allegedly killed in a mob attack on that fateful day following a false alarm allegedly raised by one of their accomplices, Mrs. Joy Iyere, who currently is in custody.

Trouble was said to have started when Iyere, a washerwoman attached to a popular brothel in Benin City, allegedly penciled down Bernard to some unidentified persons as debtor that was owing her to the tune of N8,000.

The incident reportedly happened 24 hours after the late Ikuenobe was said to have entertained his friends and the two suspects from the proceeds of the coupon he won a day before.