An official of the Edo State Environmental Protection and Regulatory Unit, Henry Isibor, has died from injuries he sustained after he was attacked by a mob comprising mostly of traders at the Oba Market, Benin.
According to PUNCH, Isibor was attacked on September 6 when he tried to enforce state environmental laws which prohibits hawking or trading on walkways.
Some of the traders it was learnt, were arrested subsequently and charged to court after Isibor finally died on Thursday, October 4.
An anonymous source revealed that Isibor’s right hand was badly injured by the mob. The source added that Isibor in company of some staff of the agency had gone to the market to enforce a no-trading along the roads and walkways but was resisted by the traders.
The traders, according to the source, attacked the deceased from behind with iron rods.
Isibor will be buried on Saturday, in his village of Okhoro, in Ovia North East Local Government Area. “He will be buried on Saturday; the agency has been of assistance too”, his brother, Onaiwu, told a PUNCH correspondent.
Confirming the unfortunate incident, Executive Director of the agency, Maj. Lawrence Loye (rtd) said some of the culprits had been apprehended. Loye said the incident might make the agency to adopt new strategies for dealing with traders.
Meanwhile, the Edo state Police Public Relations Officer, Anthony Airhuoyo has said he is yet to be briefed on the incident.
