Gunmen kill UNIBEN deputy registrar

Uchechukwu Olisah, Benin City - 28.08.2008

Fifty-one-year-old deputy registrar of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Dr. John Ighodalo, has been shot dead by gunmen suspected to be hired killers.

The deputy registrar, killed late on Monday, was the husband of a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State and former member of the state House of Assembly, Mrs. Elizabeth Ighodalo.

The development has created an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear among helmsmen of the institution, prompting some of the lecturers and key departmental heads to go underground for a while.

The university’s Head of Public Relations and Protocol, Mr. Eddy Akpomera, who confirmed the incident, described it as one of the most painful in the university in recent times, saying the late Dr. Ighodalo “was killed in a painful manner and circumstance.”

The state Police Command spokesman, Mr. Peter Ogboi, who also confirmed the killing, added that the headquarters of the command in Benin City had taken full charge of the investigation into the incident, and that “very soon, we (the command) shall apprehend the killers.”

Mr. Otoide Ighodalo, a son of the late deputy registrar, said his father had left his office at about 5.00 p.m. on Monday and was heading home when he was reportedly accosted by the gunmen at one of the failed portions on the Benin Technical College Road, Ugbowo, in the Benin metropolis.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that he was shot at close range in the forehead and he died instantly.

Ighodalo’s killers were said to have left his body inside his Honda Jeep without taking away anything from the vehicle.