Cardinal Onaiyekan was attacked by suspected herdsmen along the Benin-Ekpoma road on his way from where he went to attend the 10 years anniversary of the enthronement of Akubueze as a bishop and also to attend the 10 years anniversary of the Diocese Uromi.
As a result of this, Catholic Archbishop of Benin City, Dr. Augustin Akubueze, and the Catholic Bishop of Uromi Diocese, Dr. Donatus Ogun, have both appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to tackle the issue of the growing attacks of hoodlums in Edo State.
Recounting the ordeal, Onaiyekan’s driver, who simply identified himself as Segun, said the attack happened along the Benin-Ekpoma road close to Ehor at about 5.00pm last Friday.
According to him “We left Benin for Uromi and at about 5.00pm on the fateful day, I think very close to Ehor, I saw a big pothole and decided to slow down the vehicle. I would have passed the spot with speed but because the cardinal was sleeping, I decided to slow down the vehicle so that he won’t wake up. Suddenly, I saw three men came out of the palm tree plantation by the roadside and started shooting at the vehicle. I looked ahead of me, two of them were firing from a distance at the vehicle and I looked behind me another one was firing at the vehicle from behind so I decided to use reverse gear.
“The other vehicles, which saw me coming with reverse started clearing off the road and when I got to a safe distance I decided to stop the vehicle and people started running to see what had happened. It was then we realised that the bullets shattered the left passenger window glass and made huge holes on the panel of the door. We just thank God nothing happened to the cardinal or any of us in the vehicle”, the driver added.
On his part, Bishop Ogun said, “What would have happened if the Cardinal was killed? It would have been sorrow and pains for us, considering that he was coming to attend the 10th anniversary of the creation of Uromi Diocese. We thank God he came out unhurt.
“We need adequate security to protect the lives and property of the residents of the state. We cannot continue to live in fear in our own land because of the activities of these criminals.”