A combined team of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Army have killed Oluchi Igwedibia alias Obatosu, the younger brother of Don Wanny, who was killed two weeks ago.
Obatosu was one of the arrowheads of the New Year day massacre at Omoku in Ogba/Egbema/ Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, after which Governor Nyesom Wike declared him and 31 other cultists wanted.
Obatosu was killed yesterday at Sabo Iyakpe in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State following DSS intelligence.
The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Zaki Ahmed, who briefed journalists at the 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, where Obatosu’s body was displayed, noted that the cult kingpin was killed during a gunfight with security operatives.
Ahmed said that security operatives would sustain the tempo by going after more criminal elements who caused insecurity in the state. He said: “This is a message to the youth that crime does not pay. About two weeks ago, Don Wanny was killed in a shootout with security operatives. He wanted to be funny by attacking the security operatives that went to arrest him.
“We want to sustain this by getting actionable intelligence… You can now see that the era of Don Wanny is over. You can’t escape the long arm of the law. Once you are in crime your lifespan is very short.
“He was running and we were following him. The long arm of the law caught up with him in Auchi.” The caretaker committee Chairman of Ogba/ Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area, Mr. Osi Olisah, who was also present at the parade, disclosed that Obatosu had written a letter to the council, threatening to launch another attack in the community.
He said: “About a week ago, he wrote to threaten that what happened on New Year day was a dress rehearsal to the next attack he planned to carry out… The strong arm of the law has caught up with him.”
In his reaction, Wike commended the DSS and the Nigerian Army for the joint operation that led to Obatosu’s killing. The governor, in a statement, also declared that none of those declared wanted by the Rivers State Security Council would go free, saying that they would all be brought to justice.
He noted that the N20 million bounty placed for credible information that would lead to the arrest of the wanted cultists was still in place. Wike said that those who participated in the New Year mayhem at Omoku and any other security infraction in the state would be traced and brought to justice.
He also stated that the state government would continue to work with security agencies and other stakeholders to make Rivers State safe.
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