In Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State, something very sad happened. Chief Job Shagari Ebijego, the leader of Itama, was killed by unknown gunmen.
This terrible event took place on Monday evening close to his home in Itama community, which is in Dekina. Family members told DAILY POST that bad people were following the Chief while he was walking near his palace around 9:00 pm. Suddenly, they started shooting.
People in the palace and his guards couldn’t come out right away because of the shooting. The gunmen ran away on a motorcycle after killing the Chief.
Later, the Chief’s body was found lying on the road near his home. Family members shared with DAILY POST that although they aren’t sure why he was killed, there were problems and fights over land and leadership in the community since he became the Chief.
When the community found out about the Chief’s death, things got very bad. Some angry people started burning houses and breaking things because they were upset about the murder.
On Tuesday morning, young people in the community were so angry that they began to destroy the property of those they thought were behind the killing. The police and army came from Egume Police Office to keep things calm.
Sources said that at least 12 angry young people were arrested by the police but many others ran away from the community. By the time DAILY POST was writing this report, most people had left the community because they were scared of getting hurt or arrested.
Nearby communities like Elubi, Acharu, and Egume became places where people from Itama ran to for safety.
On Tuesday night, more angry young people came to Itama, took a lot of food, red oil, and other items, and set houses on fire.
The Divisional Police Officer at Egume, known as Pere, sent more policemen to Itama to try and bring peace back to the community.
Efforts to talk to Kogi State Police Public Relations Officer, SP. Williams Ovye Aya, did not work as he did not answer calls or texts from DAILY POST.
DAILY POST also found out that Chief Job Shagari Ebijego was once a retired Police Officer in Kaduna before he became the leader of his community.