How Calabar housemaid, 25, killed Lucky Igbinedion’s mother with stool in Benin

From Bisi Olaniyi, South-South Bureau Chief 

A twenty five-year-old housemaid, Dominion Okoro, who hails from Calabar in Cross River State, has revealed how she used a stool in the early hours of December 2 this year to hit the head and she killed Madam Maria Oredola Igbinedion, 85, the mother of a former Governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Igbinedion. 

Okoro, who was employed a year and three months before she allegedly committed the crime, while being paraded at Edo state police headquarters in Benin, disclosed that she made away with N100,000, a wristwatch and jewellery from the palatial residence of the Igbinedions at the Government Reservation Area (GRA), Benin.

She said: “I killed Mama (Madam Maria Igbinedion) to carry her money. She did not offend me. While she was sleeping on her bed, around 12:01 a.m. on December 2, 2021, I used a stool to hit her on the head and she was shouting for help, but only the gate man was around and he did not hear the shout. Mama later died.

“I waited till 4 a.m. on December 2, 2021, before leaving the house with Mama’s N100,000, wristwatch, and jewellery. I escaped to Cross River State, but I was later arrested by the police.”

Madam Maria Igbinedion was buried in Benin on December 10, after a funeral service at St. Augustine Catholic Church in the Edo state capital.

The prime suspect’s (Dominion’s) elder sister, Patience, was first arrested by the police, before Dominion was later nabbed and moved to Benin for thorough investigation.

Patience Okoro said neither she nor their parents in Cross River State knew anything about the crime committed by Dominion.

Edo Commissioner of Police, Phillip Ogbadu, revealed that it took time, efforts and money to arrest Dominion, with no fewer than twenty persons first nabbed, before the prime suspect (Dominion) was arrested and she confessed to committing the crime.

He noted that being a state crime, the suspects in the murder of Madam Igbinedion would soon be charged to court, after thorough investigation, with Dominion being specially worked on and he earlier interrogated her more than three times, stressing that to every crime, there would be parties.

Ogbadu pointed out that in the fourth quarter of this year, 427 suspected criminals were arrested for their involvement in kidnapping, armed robbery, murder, burglary and other crimes, with large cache of arms, ammunition and money also recovered from them, while declaring Edo as a no-go state for criminals, who were asked to steer clear.

He admonished residents of Edo state to be security conscious during this festive period and never to display expensive items in their vehicles, in order not to attract armed robbers and to ensure that their vehicles were tracked, so as to recover them faster, in case of losing them to criminals.

Edo police commissioner also urged residents of the Southsouth state to always provide the command with timely and useful information about criminals in their midst, while assuring that their identities would be adequately protected.