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More corpses recovered
•It’s a hideout for fraudsters
OUR REPORTERS
SEVERAL
more human corpses and body parts were recovered from the horror shrines in
Okija, Anambra State weekend by the special police homicide squad, which said
that the shrines were part of an elaborate fraud racket.
A police assault team on mop-up operation,
raided a total of 11 shrines in the Okija area in Ihiala local government last
Friday, and recovered corpses, body parts and artefacts. Police chief, Mr. Felix
Ogbaudu however, declined to disclose the actual number of bodies recovered in
the follow-up raids.
Friday’s raids were under taken by men of
the Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS) of the Anambra State police command,
reinforced by crack detectives pesonally dispatched to the crime scene by police
Inspector General, Mr. Tafa Balogun. The detectives are to take over police
investigation into the shrines in which 50 fresh corpses and 20 human skulls
were recovered on Wednesday.
Also recovered in Friday’s raids were a
live monkey, two vehicles, Volvo Salon car and a lorry - while two brothers,
Okonjo and Bartholomew Ndukwu, earlier identified as robbery suspects, narrowly
escaped arrest.
According to state Police Commissioner,
Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, the suspects so far arrested are fraudsters.
Apparently, police are working on the
theory that the shrines are at the centre of an elaborate fraud and protection
racket.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN); "They (suspects) are petty fraudsters who put fear into peoples’ minds".
Mr. Ogbaudu called for calm urging the
people not to entertain any fear of super-natural reprisal insisting that those
who fled should return to their homes.
He reported that feedback from residents
of the area indicated general relief at the exposure of the shrines which were
identified with bondage.
Police are also on the trail of the Ndukwu
brothers and several other suspects linked to the shrines, believed to number 14
in the Okija area.
Human Rights body, Civil Liberties
Organisation (CLO) had earlier alleged that the shrines were used for fraud and
sponsored by political figures.
"From reports received so far, some of the
villagers in Okija are happy with the operations, because it has relieved them
from an age-long bondage" said Mr. Ogbaudu.
A victim of one of the shrines, Chief
Christopher Ekwenibe has commended the command for doing a good job.
Ekwenibe, who visited Ogbaudu at the
command’s headquarters Awka, said he was summoned to appear before one of the
shrines about four years ago.
"I refused to honour the invitation,
because I did not believe in it. I am happy this has ended, because activities
of the shrine had become ridiculous to our people," he said.
A former chairman of Nnewi-South local
government council in Anambra State, Mr. Romanus Okoli also enthused over the
raids.
Okoli said the police should be commended
for making the discovery, because activities at the forest (shrines) had been
thriving for a long time and threatening the people.
"That forest needs to be delivered,
because the people have been in bondage and coerced to go and worship the
deities, Okoli, a pastor added.
Meanwhile, the Delta State police command
said it arrested a 38-year-old man, Chukwuemeka Okonkwo, for a alleged human
trafficking and forced labour.
The state commissioner of police, Mr.
Charles Akaya, said in a statement that Okonkwo and his accomplice, Christopher
Okwuesoeze, was the driver of a Mercedes Benz mini bus with registration number
XC 654 UWN, which conveyed the children.
He said that the suspected human
traffickers were intercepted along the Onitsha-Benin expressway on Wednesday.
He stated that Okonkwo had claimed that he
was taking the children from Omor village in the Aghamelum council area of
Anambra State to their parents in Ugbohain the Esan local government area of Edo
State.
According to the statement, Okonkwo also
claimed that the children were on holiday.
The police in on Wednesday uncovered 20
human skulls and 50 decomposing corpses, in two shrines in Okija.
Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, Anambra State
Commissioner of Police acting on a tip off, had dispatched some 80 members of
the special anti-robbery squad headed by Mr. Gabriel Haruna, to the shrine
located in Ogwugwu Okija in Ihiala council area of the state. The
development culminated in the discovery of the human skulls and corpses,
allegedly sacrificed to appease the numerous deities in Okija as claimed by the
son of the chief priest, Mr. Osita Ndukwu of Umuhu Okija.
By weekend, there were indications that
many more suspects involved in the dastardly act would be apprehended.
But Mr. Chukwumezie Obed Igwe, who
reported the fetish activities by the shrine operatives the discovery is a plus
for the people of the area and advent believed liberty for his people; who had
been subjected to the devilish pastime over the years.
"I am happy because I have been able to
expose this barbaric practice and set our people and children unborn free," he
declared triumphantly.
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