BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

BENIN — EDO State Police command, weekend, confirmed the arrest of nine persons over last week’s fracas during a festival at Igarra, the administrative headquarters of Akoko-Edo Local Government Area in which two youths of the community were said to have been shot.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Folusho Adebanjo, who confirmed the incident, disclosed that the victims of the gunshots were responding to treatment.

He said those arrested would be transferred to the state police headquarters in Benin for interrogation.

Vanguard gathered that some youths alleged to be loyal to the Otaru of Igarra, Emmanuel Adachie Saiki II, allegedly ambushed some youths and shot Majebir Oseni and Sule Kassim while trying to enforce the alleged ban of the Ekuochi masquerade festival.

However, the traditional ruler, while reacting to the allegation that it was his loyalists who  shot the victims, blamed the Police for the incident.

While accusing the police of negligence, he said: “I believe the incident could have been avoided but the police did not manage the situation well. If the police have responded promptly and did their job well, the crisis would not have happened.”