Pastor Eromosele, was killed at his farm at Odighi in Ovia North East local government area after they allegedly demanded a ransom of N4m.
Another farmer, who was found killed and whose identity could not be ascertained, was buried inside the bush because he was already decomposed. The unidentified farmer was found by a search party, comprising of hunters and local vigilante, who went into the bush to look for Pastor Eromosele.
Eldest son of late Pastor Eromosele, Dr Richard Eromosele, said his father was abducted on Thursday, March 29 and was found already decomposing in the bush on Tuesday, April 3rd. Dr Richard said he almost passed out when he saw the way his father was brutally murdered.
Richard told newsmen that the killers cut through his father’s skull after they shot him at close range. He stated that he reported the incident to the police and was referred to the anti-kidnapping unit but the police did not do anything to rescue his father. Richard said two of his father’s workers, Kingsley and Akpan, who managed to escape from the herdsmen, narrated what happened before his father was killed.
He said, “Last Thursday, my mother called that she had been calling my father and that he was not picking. She later called that my father later picked and told her that herdsmen had kidnapped him at his farm.
“The herdsmen did not use their phones. They were using my father’s phone and the phone of one of his workers. They demanded for N4m but we begged them that it was a holiday and could not raise such money. “I went to the police and they told me that I should call them whenever the herdsmen called for ransom payment. I did that but there was no response from the police.
“The two workers that escaped told us that the herdsmen told my father that he was one of those killing their cows. “It was on Tuesday after the police failed to find my father that I begged hunters and vigilante to help me. It was during the search that we found my father.
His skull was cut out with a cutlass while his hands were also cut. “We want security agencies to protect farmers in Odighi.
My father has farmed in that place all his life. How could I go into farming when my father was killed like a pig.” He said that how can the same government that wants development in the agricultural sector, watch as suspected herdsmen murder people in their farms. Edo State Commissioner of Police, Johnson Kokumo, could not be reached for his response as at the time of filing in the report.