mysqli search not working correctly returning multi found how do i search

im trying to search multiple fields and im getting multiple repeat returns
how do i properly make my code return correct info and the code does not limit the results too (is that due to finding multi matches for same records?)

how do i fix my code to return unique and can limit the returns please

also is prepare need here if so how would i implement it here.

thank you in advance for any code or help you may provide

my sql line (built)

sql: SELECT * FROM iwia_events WHERE (event_title LIKE '%food%' OR event_location LIKE '%food%' OR event_text LIKE '%food%' OR extra_info LIKE '%food%' OR categories LIKE '%food%' OR tags LIKE '%food%' OR type LIKE '%food%') AND event_start >= now() ORDER BY event_start ASC LIMIT 0,5
Searching for: food 

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my code so far

<?php
include("../../mysqli_ctx.php");

if ($_POST['limit']) {
     $limit = " LIMIT ".$_POST['limit'];
}
elseif ($_GET['limit']) {
     $limit = " LIMIT ".$_GET['limit'];
}else {
	$limit = " LIMIT 0,15 \n";
}    
       
if ($_POST['search_value']) {
     $e = $_POST['search_value'];
}
elseif ($_GET['search_value']) {
     $e = $_GET['search_value'];
}
else {
    //die("no var set or passed");
    $e ="";
}  
$search_like = "";

if ($e) {
    $search_like = "WHERE (event_title LIKE '%$e%' OR \n" .
           "event_location LIKE '%$e%' OR \n" .
           "event_text LIKE '%$e%' OR \n" .
           "extra_info LIKE '%$e%' OR \n" .
           "categories LIKE '%$e%' OR \n" .
           "tags LIKE '%$e%' OR \n" .
           "type LIKE '%$e%') \n" .
           " AND event_start >= now() ORDER BY event_start ASC \n";
}

   $sql = "SELECT * FROM iwia_events " .$search_like."".$limit;

   echo "sql: ".$sql."<br>";
   //$query_result = $mysqli->query($query);
   $res = $mysqli->query($sql);
 $result_tb ="";  
// IF mysqli_query() RETURNS FALSE, LOG AND SHOW THE ERROR
if (!$res)
{
    $err
    = "QUERY FAIL: "
    . $sql
    . '<br> ERRNO: '
    . $mysqli->errno
    . '<br> ERROR: '
    . $mysqli->error
    ;
    trigger_error($err, E_USER_ERROR);
}
// IF WE GET THIS FAR, THE QUERY SUCCEEDED AND WE HAVE A RESULT OBJECT IN $res
// AND SO WE CAN NOW USE $res IN OTHER MYSQLI FUNCTIONS

// DETERMINE HOW MANY ROWS OF RESULTS WE GOT
$num     = $res->num_rows;
$num_fmt = number_format($num);
if (!$num)
{
    //echo "<br/>QUERY: $sql ";
    $result_tb .= "<br/>No Entrys Found<br> ";
    echo PHP_EOL;
}
else
{
        if ($e) {
            echo "Searching for: ".$e." "."<br>";
        } else {
            //
        }
         
            //echo "<br/>QUERY: $sql ";
    if ($num_fmt = 1) {
        //$result_tb .=" FOUND $num_fmt Event <br/><br/>";
        echo PHP_EOL;
    } else {
       //$result_tb .=" FOUND $num_fmt Events <br/><br/>";
       echo PHP_EOL; 
    }
    
    
}
$event = array();
// do event data output block
while ($row = $res->fetch_array())
{
    $event[] = $row;
}

?>

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