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| Gov. Uduaghan |
But even the strongest of women cannot dare go to Ibusa without some strong men or other women accompanying her. Because hunters of human body parts, especially of women are on the prowl in the community, it has been turned into a theatre of blood bath, death and insecurity within the past one year as ritual killers have taken the community hostage . The situation runs contrary to claims by state authorities that peace and security is its priorities. Fear has griped members of the community and even visitors going or even passing through Ibusa.
The reason is because of the activities of these suspected hoodlums who ambush women along farm roads, kill them and remove vital organs from their dead bodies allegedly for ritual purposes. The situation has gone so awry that a female journalist who did a story on this heinous crime was sought after severally by people calling her with strange numbers and asking her to meet them in very strange places at odd hours.
The existence of this heinous crime has not in any way stopped other nightmarish and violent crimes like robbery, kidnapping which have become the order of the day in the community.. Barely a month passes by without the occurrence of any of these crimes within the community.
This ugly incident which sources said started about a year and some months ago, precisely in the later part of the year 2009 has claimed over 14 lives of women as at the time of filling this report. Daily Sun investigation revealed that when they are killed their private parts, tong, breast are often removed in a gruesome manner. Because of this mysterious killing and other violent crimes, social and economic activities are gradually grinding to a halt as members of the community who are predominantly peasant farmers rely on their women to go to their farms to fetch cassava tubers with which they make garri for both commercial and private use.
The women no longer go to farm.
An anonymous source who was visibly angry said he was surprised that the police could not unravel the mystery behind the dastardly act while accusing them of insincerity in their efforts to track down this criminals. On the community’s part the source said they had taken a bold step to solve the problem traditionally after much suspicion of the Hausa-Fulani herdsmen who sometimes commit one crime or the other while taking their cows for pasturing along the farm roads.
According to the source, an oracle (Afa) was consulted and it was discovered that an enemy within was on rampage, as a top politician in the town was fingered. But because this is a spiritual thing nobody was bold enough to confront the politician. However elderly women who were equally disturbed about the trend of events mobilized themselves and in their nakedness at midnight went to various strategic junctions in the town where they rained curses on the perpetrators of the killings.
The source who was optimistic that the gods are already at work said the fingered politician had suffered great political misfortune during the last elections and should he or she refuse to come to the open to confess, more calamities would follow.
Some of the youths of the town were also not left out in the agitation for the culprits to be fished out and dealt with according to the law. After the death of the last victim Mrs. Maria Okonkwo who was murdered on of May 13, while returning from the farm and her corpse dumped in an uncompleted building the youths of the town took to the streets to protest the killings that seem to defy any solution. Meanwhile the body of the late Mrs. Okonkwo is still in the mortuary awaiting burial. When Daily Sun visited their home at Nkpayala quarter one the children who refused to disclose his name said the police has instructed them not to talk to the press on the matter.
Also Mr. Augustine Nwaokocha from Umuodafe quarters Idumuobu Ibusa a farmer and the husband of one of the victims Mrs. Onyeluka Nwaokocha, narrated the circumstance under which the wife was murdered. He said in December last year, precisely on the 13th he went to the farm with his late wife because he sustained a serious injury while working in the farm the wife went alone the next day and never came back alive. When she couldn’t come back from the farm a search party was conducted and on the second day, her body was found in the bush with her killers putting hand into her private part, pulled out her womb and took it away. The wife who was 46 years old left behind a daughter whom Mr. Nwaokocha said he was not finding it easy to take care of. He appealed to the elders of the town and the police to intervene so that the killing can stop.
All effort to speak with the traditional ruler of the town Obi Professor Loius Nwaoboshi was not successful as he was said to be engaged in some crucial matters concerning the community. It was reported that because of the poor security in the town, Nwaoboshi, through one of his chiefs Onowu Austin Abuah requested the State Police command to draft more policemen to the area to ensure adequate protection of life and property.
Speaking on a personal note to Daily Sun one of the traditional title holders in the community Obi Professor Chike Onwuachi, a former Director General Nigerian Institute of International Affairs expressed worries that because people now live in fear which is a destabilizing force, the community is no longer at peace. “We don’t like it and we don’t know yet what to do. No culprit has been apprehended. A situation where victims exist but no culprit, there is a question of security logistics” he said. Answering questions on whether causes were invoked on perpetrators and somebody fingered as being responsible. Onwachi said “Well, we rain curses on evil everyday in this town but has it worked? The question is, have we captured any culprit” he queried.
Proffering solution to the problem he suggested the coming together of the elders of the community and trashing the matter to its logical conclusion. Emphasizing lapses in the community Professor Onwachi said” What kind of community is it that we have and we are supposed to be the voice of moral guide and we are not doing it. There is some thing wrong with the adult community here.
Fourteen women have been killed . It is not a pleasant thing. Who would like his auntie, mother or sister to be included in this list” he further queried. When asked that it was like the elders of the town are keeping quiet over this matter he retorted “for their own safety because they don’t know where the bullet is coming from”. When told that the youths are blaming the elders for not finding solution to the problem Onwachi pointed out that “The youths are blaming the elders and the elders are looking at the youths as part of the perpetrators.
Reacting to the wicked act meted out to the women folk in the community a former member of the Delta State of House of Assembly representing Oshimili North Local Government area and a member of the community Honourable Dr. Mrs. Felicia Nwaeze, said she was disturbed over what had befallen the women folk in the community.
According to her “when we started hearing this story we thought it was a myth. It was difficult for people to believe that such a thing could happen because it has not been happening before. I can not imagine a woman going to the farm and get killed there considering that they are the poorest of the poor group of women in the community.
She said women in the town are not lying low to tackle this problem as prayers were being organized in churches asking God to change the minds of the perpetrators. Besides, women who don’t go to church in their own ways are also making efforts to get this wicked act stopped.
Nwaeze who could not really come to terms with why innocent women could be callously murdered however attributed the killings to what she described as “unbridled greed” among fellow human beings. On what should be done to stop the killings the former legislator said because investigations have not revealed the motive of the perpetrators it would be difficult to proffer solution but in all the society should come up with long term measurers to appeal to the minds of people that they should love their fellow human beings because that is the greatest commandment of God’s. She called on the police to join hands with the members of the community and step up security surveillance in the town.
Speaking to Daily Sun on the recent ritual killing, police public relations officer (PPRO) of Delta State Police Command ASP Charles Muka noted that of all the suspected ritual killings that have been going on in the area no arrest has been made because there are usually no eye witness to what transpired. Pointing out that all the victims went into the bush alone and nobody has been able to tell the police what happened in the bush “the likelihood of the suspect, the nature of the suspect e.t.c. So as a matter of fact we have not arrested anybody in respect of those suspected ritual killings” he said.
He further revealed that the recent killing of a police man in the town was by armed robbers and should be separated from the ritual killings in the community.
Muka said the command had arrested and charged to court some perpetrators of violent crimes in the area while some who are on the run had been declared wanted in furtherance of police investigations. Appealing to those who know the whereabouts of this hoodlums to give the police necessary information so that they can be arrested and prosecuted so that the area can have permanent peace.
He declared that in terms of security in Ibusa the police has its strategy to ensure that the town is peaceful “we have enough men there, we are only saying the Ibusa people should co-operate with us by giving us adequate and credible information” Muka said.
from Asaba , the Delta State capital, has become the opposite of what it used to be .The community located in Oshimili North Local Government Area of the State was previously known for its peace and hospitable nature.
But even the strongest of women cannot dare go to Ibusa without some strong men or other women accompanying her. Because hunters of human body parts, especially of women are on the prowl in the community, it has been turned into a theatre of blood bath, death and insecurity within the past one year as ritual killers have taken the community hostage . The situation runs contrary to claims by state authorities that peace and security is its priorities. Fear has griped members of the community and even visitors going or even passing through Ibusa.
The reason is because of the activities of these suspected hoodlums who ambush women along farm roads, kill them and remove vital organs from their dead bodies allegedly for ritual purposes. The situation has gone so awry that a female journalist who did a story on this heinous crime was sought after severally by people calling her with strange numbers and asking her to meet them in very strange places at odd hours.
The existence of this heinous crime has not in any way stopped other nightmarish and violent crimes like robbery, kidnapping which have become the order of the day in the community.. Barely a month passes by without the occurrence of any of these crimes within the community.
This ugly incident which sources said started about a year and some months ago, precisely in the later part of the year 2009 has claimed over 14 lives of women as at the time of filling this report. Daily Sun investigation revealed that when they are killed their private parts, tong, breast are often removed in a gruesome manner. Because of this mysterious killing and other violent crimes, social and economic activities are gradually grinding to a halt as members of the community who are predominantly peasant farmers rely on their women to go to their farms to fetch cassava tubers with which they make garri for both commercial and private use.
The women no longer go to farm.
An anonymous source who was visibly angry said he was surprised that the police could not unravel the mystery behind the dastardly act while accusing them of insincerity in their efforts to track down this criminals. On the community’s part the source said they had taken a bold step to solve the problem traditionally after much suspicion of the Hausa-Fulani herdsmen who sometimes commit one crime or the other while taking their cows for pasturing along the farm roads.
According to the source, an oracle (Afa) was consulted and it was discovered that an enemy within was on rampage, as a top politician in the town was fingered. But because this is a spiritual thing nobody was bold enough to confront the politician. However elderly women who were equally disturbed about the trend of events mobilized themselves and in their nakedness at midnight went to various strategic junctions in the town where they rained curses on the perpetrators of the killings.
The source who was optimistic that the gods are already at work said the fingered politician had suffered great political misfortune during the last elections and should he or she refuse to come to the open to confess, more calamities would follow.
Some of the youths of the town were also not left out in the agitation for the culprits to be fished out and dealt with according to the law. After the death of the last victim Mrs. Maria Okonkwo who was murdered on of May 13, while returning from the farm and her corpse dumped in an uncompleted building the youths of the town took to the streets to protest the killings that seem to defy any solution. Meanwhile the body of the late Mrs. Okonkwo is still in the mortuary awaiting burial. When Daily Sun visited their home at Nkpayala quarter one the children who refused to disclose his name said the police has instructed them not to talk to the press on the matter.
Also Mr. Augustine Nwaokocha from Umuodafe quarters Idumuobu Ibusa a farmer and the husband of one of the victims Mrs. Onyeluka Nwaokocha, narrated the circumstance under which the wife was murdered. He said in December last year, precisely on the 13th he went to the farm with his late wife because he sustained a serious injury while working in the farm the wife went alone the next day and never came back alive. When she couldn’t come back from the farm a search party was conducted and on the second day, her body was found in the bush with her killers putting hand into her private part, pulled out her womb and took it away. The wife who was 46 years old left behind a daughter whom Mr. Nwaokocha said he was not finding it easy to take care of. He appealed to the elders of the town and the police to intervene so that the killing can stop.
All effort to speak with the traditional ruler of the town Obi Professor Loius Nwaoboshi was not successful as he was said to be engaged in some crucial matters concerning the community. It was reported that because of the poor security in the town, Nwaoboshi, through one of his chiefs Onowu Austin Abuah requested the State Police command to draft more policemen to the area to ensure adequate protection of life and property.
Speaking on a personal note to Daily Sun one of the traditional title holders in the community Obi Professor Chike Onwuachi, a former Director General Nigerian Institute of International Affairs expressed worries that because people now live in fear which is a destabilizing force, the community is no longer at peace. “We don’t like it and we don’t know yet what to do. No culprit has been apprehended. A situation where victims exist but no culprit, there is a question of security logistics” he said. Answering questions on whether causes were invoked on perpetrators and somebody fingered as being responsible. Onwachi said “Well, we rain curses on evil everyday in this town but has it worked? The question is, have we captured any culprit” he queried.
Proffering solution to the problem he suggested the coming together of the elders of the community and trashing the matter to its logical conclusion. Emphasizing lapses in the community Professor Onwachi said” What kind of community is it that we have and we are supposed to be the voice of moral guide and we are not doing it. There is some thing wrong with the adult community here.
Fourteen women have been killed . It is not a pleasant thing. Who would like his auntie, mother or sister to be included in this list” he further queried. When asked that it was like the elders of the town are keeping quiet over this matter he retorted “for their own safety because they don’t know where the bullet is coming from”. When told that the youths are blaming the elders for not finding solution to the problem Onwachi pointed out that “The youths are blaming the elders and the elders are looking at the youths as part of the perpetrators.
Reacting to the wicked act meted out to the women folk in the community a former member of the Delta State of House of Assembly representing Oshimili North Local Government area and a member of the community Honourable Dr. Mrs. Felicia Nwaeze, said she was disturbed over what had befallen the women folk in the community.
According to her “when we started hearing this story we thought it was a myth. It was difficult for people to believe that such a thing could happen because it has not been happening before. I can not imagine a woman going to the farm and get killed there considering that they are the poorest of the poor group of women in the community.
She said women in the town are not lying low to tackle this problem as prayers were being organized in churches asking God to change the minds of the perpetrators. Besides, women who don’t go to church in their own ways are also making efforts to get this wicked act stopped.
Nwaeze who could not really come to terms with why innocent women could be callously murdered however attributed the killings to what she described as “unbridled greed” among fellow human beings. On what should be done to stop the killings the former legislator said because investigations have not revealed the motive of the perpetrators it would be difficult to proffer solution but in all the society should come up with long term measurers to appeal to the minds of people that they should love their fellow human beings because that is the greatest commandment of God’s. She called on the police to join hands with the members of the community and step up security surveillance in the town.
Speaking to Daily Sun on the recent ritual killing, police public relations officer (PPRO) of Delta State Police Command ASP Charles Muka noted that of all the suspected ritual killings that have been going on in the area no arrest has been made because there are usually no eye witness to what transpired. Pointing out that all the victims went into the bush alone and nobody has been able to tell the police what happened in the bush “the likelihood of the suspect, the nature of the suspect e.t.c. So as a matter of fact we have not arrested anybody in respect of those suspected ritual killings” he said.
He further revealed that the recent killing of a police man in the town was by armed robbers and should be separated from the ritual killings in the community.
Muka said the command had arrested and charged to court some perpetrators of violent crimes in the area while some who are on the run had been declared wanted in furtherance of police investigations. Appealing to those who know the whereabouts of this hoodlums to give the police necessary information so that they can be arrested and prosecuted so that the area can have permanent peace.
He declared that in terms of security in Ibusa the police has its strategy to ensure that the town is peaceful “we have enough men there, we are only saying the Ibusa people should co-operate with us by giving us adequate and credible information” Muka said.
Source : Sun Newspaper
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