By Simon Ebegbulem

BENIN—THE three-day warning strike embarked upon by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, turned bloody in Edo State yesterday, when a trigger happy mobile police officer attached to a Judge from a neighouring state, shot at the state Chairman of the National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, Comrade Godwin Ehikioya, when the union leaders tried to enforce the strike directive at the Benin Airport.

The state chairman of the NLC, Comrade Kaduna Eboigbodin and his deputy, Eddy Ossai, were equally man handled by mobile policemen on the orders of the Edo
State Deputy Commissioner of Police, Femi Adenaike, when they rushed to the Airport in solidarity with their colleague who was shot on his hand and is
presently at an undisclosed hospital.

Consequently, the NLC boss in the state, Comrade Eboigbodin, has called for the removal of the Deputy Commissioner of Police in the state for his alleged
man-handling of union leaders. They NLC vowed also to extend the warning strike in Edo State till Monday to protest the shooting of their colleague.

Vanguard learnt that trouble started when the union leaders attempted to stop passengers from boarding an Arik Air plane that just arrived from Lagos and the
security aide to the yet to be identified judge, was said to have shot  Ehikioya in his hand and also shot sporadically into the air to protect himself.

Comrade Eboigbodin who addressed newsmen shortly after the incident, accused the DCP in the state, Femi Adenaike, of calling for reinforcement of mobile policemen to harass them at the airport and allowed the Arik Air to fly back to Lagos by force instead of “consultation and persuasion.”

According to him, “an orderly attached to an individual which we are yet to identify was responsible for the shooting of Ehikioya while he was, monitoring the strike at the Benin airport. As we speak, he is currently hospitalized.”