It was a harvest of suspected criminal elements in various parts of Benin City, Edo State capital on Tuesday July 15, 2025, as the newly floated Special Security Squad, Operation Flush Out Kidnappers and Cultists, set up by Governor Monday Okpebholo to keep the state safe, arrested over 20 persons in its first operation.
Newsmata.com.ng reports that places raided include Isiohor, Iguosa, Oluku, Ibiwe/Lagos Street, and other notorious hideous for criminals. Many suspects were arrested with drugs, dangerous weapons, and other incriminating materials.
Speaking after the operation, a member of the new outfit, John Adewale Eseikhaigbe, commended the move made by Governor Okpebholo in establishing the squad which he said would go a long way in reducing the criminal elements perpetrating evils in the state, assuring that the squad would continue to clean up the state and make it safe for all.
According to Eseikhaigbe, “Thanks to the Governor of Edo State for his initiative in setting up the Squad because he is a man committed to peace and against conflicts.
“Following the recent killing in Edo State, the Governor took it upon himself to announce to the state, nation and the world that the killing in Edo State must stop, thereby constituting the Special Squad.
“The Squad commenced operation on Tuesday and made several arrests, and you can see for yourself as we combed the length and breadth of the city of Benin to ensure it is safe for our people.
“We made several arrests. We found drugs, weapons and other implicating materials. This has come to stay, and we will ensure that Edo State is safe for our people and investors who have come to invest in the state.
“The raid was not only about cultism as we are also looking for drug peddlers, kidnappers, as these crimes are inter-related. We are doing this to ensure that Benin City is safe for all of us. To achieve this, we have to clean the streets of all social vices.”
Eseikhaigbe also hinted that Governor Okpebholo gave a marching order to ensure that armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism and other social vices that were bringing disrepute to the state became a thing of the past.
Another member of the Committee, Eribo Emwanta, said the raid and sealing up of a hotel at Isiohor was not witch-hunting, but a move to keep the state and its citizens safe.
According to Emwanta, “The hotel that was sealed at Isiohor was not to witch-hunt anybody but a move to invite the owner to explain his own part as the hotel appears to be a place for hideout for suspected drug peddlers, cultists, and other criminals.”
Amielemen Idemudia Noah, on his part, said the exercise witnessed had shown that the governor was ready to keep the state clean, saying he felt pained over the killings which were denting the image of the state.
Noah said, “We thank the governor for giving us the opportunity to work with him to clean the state of all forms of criminality, and ensure a peaceful, united state where all would live and do business without fear.”
The Edo State Special Security Squad Against Cultism and Kidnapping, is made up of the Military, Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), and other sister security agencies.
Hunters, vigilante groups, and repentant cultists, among other critical stakeholders in Edo State, are also members of the Squad.