Suspected armed hoodlums have attacked a home in Ikheniro, Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State injuring an aged woman and left her in critical condition.

Eye witnesses said the hoodlums armed with dangerous weapons including battle axes, machetes and clubs, invaded the home at about 8.00 pm on October 18, 2024, and started beating up every one in sight including the aged woman simply identified as Madam Aristo Blessing.

The eye witnesses said that at the end, Madam Aristo Blessing was found in the pool of her own blood with severe head injuries and other bruises leading to her being rushed to the hospital.

They said this wasn’t the first time the family would be attacked in similar circumstances, including the attack on the home of one Mr Victor, a relation of Nosakhare Patrick for harbouring him in his home after he (Patrick) had escaped from a brutal attack in 2013 by some gang of cultists somewhere in New Benin, Benin City.

Both Patrick and Victor reportedly survived the attack but not without injuries.

Our source further hinted that Nosakhare Patrick, was reportedly recruited by a gang of cultists who disguised as Revenue Collecting Agents to Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Council, taking advantage of unsuspecting members of the business community in the area.

Luck however ran out of the fraudsters when a rival cult group discovered the fraud and decided to strike on January 17, 2013, viciously attacking the impostors, and beating up everyone in sight including Nosakhare Patrick who had innocently accepted the ‘job offer’ as a “tax collector”. In the violent melee, Patrick and and another man simply identified as Mr Lucky were isolated by the gang and beaten to stupor.

While Patrick survived following his escape reportedly aided by some intervention by community members, Lucky wasn’t, as he succumbed to the cold hands of death as a result of injuries sustained from the attack.

Nosakhare Patrick had in the aftermaths of that violent incident gone into hiding to shield himself from harm, but like the latest attack on his mother, he and members of his family had reportedly been in the rival gang’s rader leading often to threats, attacks and intimidation of family members some of whom had been forced to go into hiding.

The latest attack involving Nosakhare’s mother Aristo Blessing, confirms the trauma the family had been in since the gangs had been hunting Nosakhare Patrick. It is also a reflection of the increasing rate of violent crimes in Ikheniro community, Edo State and indeed Nigeria as a whole where incidences of violent crimes have become common place.

When contacted, the Edo State Police Public Relations Officer, Moses Yamu, an Assignment Superintendent of Police (ASP) confirmed the attack and said that men of Okhaen police Division were already handling the matter.

ASP Yamu however assured of the Edo State Police Command’s readines to deal with all acts of criminalities across the state with a view to making it safe for all.