Simon Ebegbulem
2 November 2008
interview
The family of an NYSC member in Benin City is mourning after suspected assassins shot her dead as she and her siblings prepared for their father's remembrance.
If she had known, she would have stayed put in Kaduna where she was initially posted for her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). That thought, definitely, could be in the mind of 30-year-old Miss Bridget Osaze Omorodion who was murdered, last weekend, in Benin City, by unknown gunmen suspected to be assassins.
Sunday Vanguard gathered that the incident, which occurred at the deceased's family house located at Okungbowa Street, off Siluko Road, at about 8.00 p.m. penultimate Saturday, shocked residents of the area as they wondered what could have led to the killing of this beautiful lady who just got her redeployment to Edo State barely two weeks earlier.
Contrary to the report that the deceased got redeployed to Benin City to enable her prepare for her wedding, the family explained that, though she was recently engaged to a man, she and other family members had actually arrived for the remembrance ceremony of their late father who died few weeks after Bridget was born. And, coincidentally, few weeks to the remembrance of the late father, she was murdered by suspected assassins.
The mother of the deceased, Madam Racheal, fainted after her daughter was shot dead in her presence. She is currently receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital. Bridget was a graduate of Agric. Economics from the University of Benin (UNIBEN) and attached to the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE), off Wire Road in Benin City, for her NYSC after she redeployed to Edo State due to an undisclosed medical problem.
The gunmen, who were said to be eight in number, reportedly stormed Miss Omorodion's family home that Saturday and accosted her and her mother, demanding for jewelries, money and telephone handsets. Oblivious of the real intention of the nocturnal visitors, she took them to her room to enable them pick all they demanded.
But they dragged her to a different direction, the backyard, where they had a heated conversation with her after one of the visitors seized their mother, Racheal, to enable them execute their dastardly act. Sunday Vanguard gathered that the deceased pleaded with the assassins to spare her life but they kept deaf ears. They went on to blow off her brain while she knelt down and fled without bothering about the jewelries any more. And as if the plot had been planned for months, light was restored after they left.
After the incident, policemen attached to Ogida Police Station invited four of the tenants who resided in the same house with the deceased for questioning. But, surprisingly, when they got there, they were all arrested and locked in the cell. It took the intervention of several persons before they were granted bail. But they were said to have had to cough out N2,000 each before they were granted bail. The situation, according to sympathizers, created doubt about the sincerity of the police to find the killers since, as it seemed, they always want to capitalize on any tragedy to extort innocent people without finding the killers at the end of the day.
The deceased's niece, seven-year-old Deborah, who witnessed the incident, narrated: "My aunty was outside because she was supposed to plait my hair. They were about eight of them and our light went off when they entered the compound. They dragged my aunty inside the house telling her to come and bring her gold. My grandmother followed them but they held her.
They warned her (grandmother) to go back or they will shoot her. But they did not take her to the room again, they took her to the back yard. Infact my sister was trying to point the torch at them but they warned her to put it off or they will kill her. So we heard my sister (the deceased) begging them not to kill her at the back yard, she was crying. But the next thing we heard was a gun shot. After they killed her and ran away, I rushed to meet her while she was still kneeling down, and I told her, "Aunty, you cannot die", that she should wake up and plait my hair. But she did not listen, she was already dead, that was when I started crying.
Esther Omorodion, elder sister to the deceased, said the family was devastated by the killing.
Her words: "The incident happened at about 8.00 p.m that evening. My mum and others were all at home when eight boys rushed into our compound. My late sister, Bridget, called my mother and shouted that people were in the house. They said she should stay where she was and they went to sit at the parlour. So my mother told them 'welcome', but they said she should not greet them, that they came to kill her. My mother said, "So you came to kill me? Okay you can kill me but leave my children alone." My mother now removed her dress, leaving her underwears and told them that she was ready now.
As at that time, Bridget was holding my mother. But they suddenly dragged her and said she should follow them. But my mother resisted and followed them, asking where they were taking her daughter to. But two of them blocked my mother. They warned her not to move from where they asked her to stay. They said 'You think we are joking? You will see what will happen to you now'. They now told my mother that they were taking my sister inside to bring her jewelries. So my mother now thought they were entering her room to collect the gold and go but they took her to the backyard. My sister was begging them but they shot her in the head.
My mother started shouting and the person that shot her told his colleague to leave my mother so that they will leave. They ran away immediately. After they left, my mother ran out and started shouting 'Osaze, Osaze'. She rushed out and found my sister on her knees dead. I think she was kneeling down to beg them before they killed her. There was blood everywhere now and that was how everybody started shouting in the house, calling for help. That was how we now took her to the mortuary because she was dead."
We learnt she was preparing for her wedding?
A man just engaged her. Not as if she was planning her wedding. We were only planning for our late father's remembrance next month and that is even why I came back from abroad because I do not reside here. She was not planning for any wedding. This Bridget was three weeks old when my father died but my mother managed to take care of us. I have even told her on several occasions to get married because she was already 30. Look at her now, she is dead, with no children.
Do you know if she has any problem with anybody?
I do not know really. But I have not heard of any problem at all. The only thing I always tell her is for her to get married which she told me she will do as soon as she finished her school.
Are you people suspecting anybody?
Before the assassins arrived our house that day, they had already gone to the transformer to switch off the light; so ours and some other houses in this area had no light. So we were not able to see their faces. And immediately after killing my sister and gone, they brought back the light. That means they must have planned this for a very long time. But God will surely punish them some day because the wicked must die wickedly.
But why did she decide to redeploy to Edo State when she was not married yet?
What happened was that she was posted to Kaduna and she had health problems which were being treated here in Benin. So she was redeployed because of that, not as if it was because of marriage. When she came down here, she started serving at the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE). It is not even up to two weeks that she came back that they shot her dead.
How is the family taking this tragedy that befell them now?
We are devastated because we were all supposed to be together to conclude the burial rites of my father but now my sister is killed. My mum and majority of us are yet to recover from the shock. We are only praying now that the police should investigate the killing seriously and arrest those behind the death. They should not just overlook it because my sister had not offended anybody and she did not deserve the early death. The police and members of the public should please help us to find the killers.
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