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Tag: Ebonyi

  • Two murders jolt Ebonyi

    Two murders jolt Ebonyi

    The death of two Unity College pupils following their abduction is rattling the Okposi communit in Ebonyi State, the government and security agencies, reports OGOCHUKWU ANIOKE

    The two boys have been buried in their communities in Enugu State amid agony. Still, it seems most of their effect of the death has been happening elsewhere: Ebonyi State.

    Tochukwu Eneh and his friend Chukwuemeka Ugwu, who were Junior Secondary School pupils of Federal Government College, Okposi, Ebonyi State, had just rounded off their exams and were preparing to return home the following day. They wanted to arrive at home looking good, so they went with other schoolmates to Okposi community for a haircut. But then, as the report goes, a band of attackers came after them, driving the boys in different directions. Tochukwu and Chukwu-emeka were caught by the assailants and taken away. Several days later, their decomposed bodies were found on a river in the community.

    Since then, the community has not been the same. Nor has Governor David Umahi been at peace. The security agencies have been equally roused up.

    Federal Government College Okposi is one of the first generation unity schools. Established in 1965, it operated for about two years before the civil war started in 1967, hence the students could not continue their education in the college and had to be settled in two other institutions, FGC Warri and FGC Sokoto.

    Between 1967 and 1995, the college premises were used for different purposes. They served as base for the Biafran army, Nigerian army, a temporary site for a federal polytechnic, a government secondary school and later a federal technical college. With the creation of Ebonyi State, FGC Okposi was re-established in 1995.

    FGC Okposi is a coeducational institution with about 1,500 students on roll. The college aims to provide qualitative education for the young Nigerians some of who have achieved greater heights in their fields of endeavor.

    The school has been leaving in harmony with the host community since inception but all that seems to have changed with the killing of Tochukwu and Chukwuemeka.

    The students, Tochukwu Eneh and Chukwuemeka Ugwu, had finished their exams and gone to the town in company of some of their classmates for a haircut preparatory to going home when they were abducted by unknown persons.

    Tochukwu hailed from Obioma, Chukwuemeka from Nsude, both in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State.

    Family sources said both JSS students having finished their final examinations were looking forward to reuniting with their families on May 13.

    On the eve of their planned departure, a group of schoolboys, including Tochukwu Eneh and Chukwuemeka Ugwu, decided to get their hair cut outside the school. They had done so, and were on their way back to the school when they were accosted by some suspected hoodlums who ordered them to stop.

    Alarmed, the youngsters scampered away in different directions but, in the ensuing melee, Tochukwu and Chukwuemeka were forcefully grabbed by the hoodlums and carried off. It was gathered that all the other students, except these two, made it safely back to school.

    However, the frightened boys did not raise the alarm at once, maybe out of fear for the consequences of breaching school regulations, so the incident did not become known to the authorities until Friday, May 13, when Tochukwu’s guardian did not see him as they had earlier scheduled.

    The said guardian, a lady who is a staff of FGC, Okposi, had some items which she wanted Tochukwu to convey to his mum in Enugu. When she learnt what had happened, she notified the school authorities and the parents of the victims of the abduction about the incident.

    Upon receipt of the complaint about the kids, the police command in the state swung into action to track down the hoodlums down and save the boys.

    The state governor, Dave Umahi also weighed in, directing the security agencies to unravel the whereabouts of the children.

    The CP Peace Ibekwe Abdallah in company of the military and Department of State Security (DSS) officials made several visits to the community.

    The visit paid off on Sunday when the decomposing corpses of the boys were discovered on a river.

    A statement by the Ebonyi State Police Command’s spokesman, ASP George Okafor said the bodies were discovered at a bamboo grove in Ata River in the community.

    He said the command received the report on the disappearance of the students on reported May 14.

    “The CP led other senior police officials with the command’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) team for an on-the-spot assessment and rescue of the students.

    The statement noted that in the course of interaction with the community’ leaders, youths and other stakeholders, it was discovered that two bodies were in a bamboo grove in Ata River, about half a kilometer from the college premises.

    “In response to the information, the command recovered the decomposing corpses of the two missing students whose parents were there to identify.

    It noted that their corpses have been evacuated and deposited in a morgue awaiting autopsy, as the command is presently investigating the matter and pledged to unravel the mystery behind their deaths.

    “The command is appealing to all citizens to assist in providing relevant and timely information that would nip all forms of criminality in the bud,” it said.

    The statement assured citizens of the state of adequate protection of their lives and properties at all times.

    But Mr Bartholomew Eneh, father of Tochukwu, accused youths of the community of being responsible for the killing of his son and his classmate Chukwuemeka Ugwu.

    Mr Eneh spoke to reporters in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.

    Mr Eneh said he called the school when his son failed to return on the day he was supposed to return after his exams and that was when the guardian told him that they were looking for him.

    He said, “Since then I have been to Okposi twice and to Abakaliki twice.

    “I am happy that the governor Dave Umahi gave the CP an order to properly investigate the matter. And since then she has been up and doing. Yesterday (Sunday) she was there with a team of security men from Police, Army and DSS. In fact the whole town was on fire when we came in. While we were holding meetings the CP got information that the bodies were in the river and we went there and their bodies were recovered.”

    He said initial reports from medical doctors in the team revealed that the bodies were dumped in the river the same day they were abducted and accused the community youths of being responsible because the new principal refused to settle them.

    “The old principal was the one who struck the deal with the villagers and some workers in the school were also benefiting as they used the opportunity to siphon money from the school authorities. But the new principal refused to be giving them money and these workers went and created the impression that the school was fighting the community. The group then threatened to punish the school in return. I believe the two boys were a victim of the problem and were just caught in the crossfire of the crisis between the community and the school.”

    He called for justice to be served.

    The chairman of the local government, Justice Ogbonna debunked the accusation levelled against the community.

    According to him, the school since inception has been at peace with the community and the community will not now start having problems with the school.

    A group known as Okposi E-8, expressed its profound shock at the death of the students. The group made up of indigenous people of Okosi based in Abuja, urged in a statement signed by its chairman Emenike Joseph Okorie and secretary Ugochukwu Ezekiel,  security agents to properly investigate the incident.

    Some staff of the school have been arrested including the Principal for interrogation.

    A source in the community said, “I suspect that one of the cult groups may have attempted to forcefully initiate the children into their group. You know they are initiating secondary school children into these cults these days. In some places even primary school children are also initiated.”

    The two pupils were buried on Tuesday amidst tears and wailing by the community. Mourners called for justice. The bodies were first taken to the school after autopsy was carried out them by the police.

    At the school the teachers and students were seen wailing and rolling on the ground. They described the late students as very disciplined and cheerful students and wondered why anybody would want to harm them.

     

  • Ebonyi women’s ‘naked’ riot

    The pictures are as graphic as can be: scraggy old women in various stages of nudity. Many are in mere one piece briefs; shriveled cleavages, flat as paramecia assault the eyes. Wrinkled tummies- more invidious than a failed visage are a sobering sight. And they wail and wail – you could almost hear them from the picture.

    The Amangwu-Edda women protests in Ebonyi State recently will go down as one of the most conscientious mass revolt against a perceived social ill in that part of the country in recent times. The riot was remarkable not because the women marched the streets naked or because they were elderly women largely in their 70s and 80s.

    No, the village dissents may yet become a national cause célèbre for many reasons. First, it is happening in a remote village of one of the ‘remote’ states in the South  East of Nigeria.

    Second, as Hardball can discern, it is a highly principled agitation to dislodge a seeming leviathan weighing down a rural community. But most notable, the village woman and some men are fighting for the unshackling of a leader who has come to liberate them from the forces of ‘darkness’. In literal and metaphorical terms, they insist that a leader who has brought them light must not be extinguished by an old, kakistocratic regime.

    Now the narrative as reported by the media: Amangwu-Edda community of Edda Local Government Area of Ebonyi State (formerly Afikpo South) had been a no man’s land (not unlike most rural communities in Nigeria). It is a place so dark and forlorn it was devoid of real men and women. It thrived on old and mainly widowed women; old men and young village wags who terrorised the community.

    Cultism and rape of these hapless women were the order of the day. Since local government administration had vanished from Nigeria, Amangwu-Edda people suffered in silence for long.

    Well, until recently when a ‘messiah’ came along in the person of a retired consultant gynecologist, Dr. Ndubuisi Ekumankama. Upon retirement, Dr. Ndubuisi had returned to his root to settle down – a rare and courageous move in today’s Nigeria. He did not stop at that, he contested and became the president-general of Edda Progressive Union.

    Soon, ‘strange’ things began to happen to the once–abandoned community – there is electricity supply now among other projects like culverts. Rape and cultism and most other forms of criminality have abated under Dr. Ndubuisi’s watch. But some big men of the community do not seem to like the new state of affairs, many community members say.

    Dr. Ndubuisi was therefore recently picked up on charges of demolition of a widow’s house said to have been illegally sited by a member of the old cabal. The house had been built right on an ancient community road – can you catch a whiff of impunity there?

    By the persistent protests of these half-clad women and the larger community, Dr. Ndubuisi was eventually arraigned and granted bail.

    The matter is supposedly in court but Hardball thinks an emerging liberation fight is in the offing and every Nigerian community must follow it closely.

  • Two dead in Ebonyi, Cross River communal attack

    Two more persons have died in renewed hostilities between the people of Ochenyim village, Amagu community in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State and Adadama community in Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State over their boundary.

    The victims – Okechukwu John Ogwa and Mrs. Nweke Nwankwo – are said to be from Ochenyim village.

    Also, the policemen on duty in the disputed land were reportedly attacked by the warring communities.

    The village head, Chief Peter Azuegu, said Mrs. Nwankwo was harvesting cassava in a farm near the disputed boundary when she was killed.

    Police spokesman George Okafor, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), confirmed the incident.

    He said: “The matter was reported to the police that Nweke Nwankwo left her home at 9 a.m to harvest cassava and did not come back and that nobody could trace her whereabouts.”

    The spokesman said immediately the matter was reported to the police, it raised a team to support other mobile and conventional policemen to the disputed area.

    He said immediately the policemen arrived on the scene, the hoodlums opened fire on them.

    Okafor said: “They were even using real bullets, not even cartridges. They actually wanted to kill our men, but God, being on our side, no policeman was killed.”

    He warned the residents to avoid the disputed land.

    The spokesman pleaded with the residents not to take the law into their hands.

  • Ebonyi uncovers 838 cemetery keepers

    Ebonyi state government has uncovered a job scam in the local government system involving 838 cemetery keepers who are receiving CONHESS.

     

    Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Samuel Okoronkwo stated this on Thursday in Abakaliki, the state capital.

     

    The Commissioner also debunked rumors making the rounds that the state government wants to sack medical workers in the local government system.

     

    He what the state government was doing was to find out the workers who are not health workers but are earning salary under the Consolidated Health salary Structure (CONHESS).

     

    According to him, investigation so far have revealed that previous administrations in the state fraudulently employed about 838 workers as cemetery keepers even while there was no cemetery in the 13 locql government areas managed by the state government.

     

    He said, “The only cemetery in the state is in Abakaliki and it is being managed by the Catholic Church, so what are the cemetery keepers doing. Why are they earning CONHESS?

     

    “So this people have no work schedule, they don’t go to work but take very high salary at the end of the month, more than those who are actually working. That is fraudulent and this government will not allow it to continue”, he added.

     

    He assured that the affected workers will not be sacked but will be removed from the CONHESS and reposted to other areas in the local government where they will be useful.

     

    The Commissioner said a Committee has been set up to look into the issue with members drawn from various Unions and government.

     

    Mr Okoronkwo further stated that the Ministry will also embark on screening of certificates having discovered that many workers in the local government system have fake certificates.

  • Rice farmers to get N1b from Ebonyi govt

    Rice farmers to get N1b from Ebonyi govt

    Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi has directed the disbursement of N1 billion to commercial rice farmers.

    The development, it was learnt, would make the state the number one rice producer in the country.

    The money, the governor said, would not be given to the farmers as cash but as seedlings, fertiliser, pesticides, among other essentials.

    Umahi, who spoke in Abakaliki, the state capital, during a special stakeholders’ forum on rice production, also ordered local government chairmen, development centres’ coordinators, management committee members and liaison officers of the councils to acquire hectares of land for rice production.

    Under the new arrangement, the council chairmen are to acquire 20 hectares of land; coordinators, 10 hectares and management committee as well as liaison officers, five hectares each.

  • Ebonyi to feudiing community: Sheathe your swords

    Ebonyi to feudiing community: Sheathe your swords

    The Ebonyi State government has urged all combatants in the Ezza/Ezillo community in Ishielu Local Government Area of the state to bury the hatchet and embrace peace.

    The Deputy Governor of the state, Mr Kelechi Igwe, a lawyer, who made the call at Ezillo, noted that the David Umahi administration is intent on stamping out violence in Ishielu using every legal means.

    He regretted the economic hardship and mutual distrust the protracted crisis has caused the people while assuring that with understanding and commitment to peace from the affected people, peace would be restored to the area.

    According to him, the administration of David Umahi is bent on fulfilling its campaign promise of ensuring that peace returned to Ezillo before it clocked one year in office.

    He explained that Governor Umahi while serving as deputy made concerted efforts to resolve the crisis and that as the incumbent deputy governor more effort would be invested to end the communal war.

    He said, “Government is aware that some forces are fueling the crisis for political reason and for selfish interest. But I want to warn that our government is not a go-slow government that is upwardly mobile, and we are not ready to entertain the exigencies that will come from people who think that they are untouchable.

    “Therefore if you are one of those orchestrating the war, the eyes are on you and the government will stop at nothing to resolve the crisis and make the people one for the safety of the next generation.”

    The deputy governor who also doubles as the chairman on boundary dispute, further warned those masterminding the crisis that there is no hiding place for them in the state.

    He said that government will use its resources and gadgets to fish out perpetrators and sponsors of the Ezza/Ezillo crisis.

    According to him, peace is paramount to the state and that the state government will deal decisively with anyone connected with the crisis irrespective of his political affiliation, stressing that the peace of the citizenry is important to government.

    His words, “After today, the grace of pardon shall no longer be available. We shall deal with any man or woman for fomenting trouble in Ishielu”

    Barrister Igwe further directed that a prayer and fasting summit should be organized with the theme, “Lets peace of God prevail in our heart, to do that thing which will be invariably acceptable to all” for peace to reign in Ishielu.

    He instructed the Caretaker Chairman of Ishielu Local Government Area to mobilize stakeholders from Ezza and Ezillo to participate in the prayer, noting that attendance will be taken at the prayer summit.

    The deputy governor commended security agencies for their steadfastness in maintaining the peace in the buffer zone while assuring them that government will always give them the needed assistance.

    He however challenged the traditional rulers to support the government to achieve peace in Ishielu.

    The Ebonyi State Commissioner for Local Governments and Chieftaincy Matters, Samuel Okonkwo, a lawyer, appealed to the warring communities to search their conscience and avoid rancour, pointing out that the greatest virtue on earth is peace.

    He urged the people to pray against it.

    In a remark, the Ishielu Caretaker Chairman, Henry Eze promised that the people will follow the path of peace.

  • Unease over mass sack at Ebonyi School

    Unease over mass sack at Ebonyi School

    There are fears that the Ebonyi State College of Education in Ikwo may lose the accreditation of some of its courses, because of the sack of 83 workers, including 30 teachers. The workers and students are seeking a reversal of the decision. But the government says the situation is not that bad. OGOCHUKWU ANIOKE, reports.

    There is unease at the Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo following last month’s sack of 83 workers, among them 30 teachers. Many are afraid that the school may lose the accreditation of some courses because of the development.

    But, the Dave Umahi-led administration, which ordered the workers’ sack March 21, because their employment did not follow due process, has allayed such fear.

    A panel constituted by Umahi alleged that the workers were illegally employed between 2011 and 2016. The panel investigated allegations of administrative lapses and corrupt practices against the Provost, Prof Silas Omebe, by the unions in the college.

    The Fidelis Nwankwo-led panel absolved Omebe of the accusations, but queried how the 83 workers were employed.

    “Their employment did not follow due process and laid down procedure including advertisement of the vacancies in the media amongst other steps. It is normal to recruit staff to achieve institutions’ accreditation objectives but the fact remains that they are not permanent staff,” said Nwankwo, who also chairs the college’s governing council.

    On receiving the report, Umahi ordered the workers’ sack before the government reviews the report or visits the institution as the panel recommended.

    The affected workers’ colleagues, students and the unions are not happy with the development.

    Some of the affected workers have petitioned the Governing Council in protest.

    One of them, Ogel Abel, of the Educational Foundation Department, is alleging injustice over his sack.

    “I resumed work after hospitalisation, but I was not paid my salaries. After several oral appeals, I decided to appeal in writing through my head of department (HOD) to the provost on the issue.

    “My HOD minuted on my letter and forwarded same to the provost, who, among other things, demanded for evidence that I had resumed work.

    “But, shockingly, without waiting for the evidence, the management served me a dismissal letter the following day without facing any disciplinary committee”, he said.

    Another worker, John Nnaji, who also petitioned the Council, alleged that he was employed on January 1, 2014 as a driver attached to the provost; but was dismissed three months after without any reason.

    “From the moment I was so deployed, my monthly pay was at the mercy of my boss, the provost, who initially told me that the state government was no longer able to pay the monthly salaries of the college staff and, as such, the staff would not be receiving their full salaries at the end of every month until when government can meet its obligation fully.

    “I accepted the information as the true position. From that moment the provost started giving me N5,000 or N7,000 every month and some months nothing.

    “I was shocked to discover recently that my salary has been running fully since April, 2014 till date without my account being credited for confirmation,” he claimed.

    A sacked teacher, who spoke in confidence, appealed to the government to reconsider his sack, considering the “untold hardship” it has caused him.  He said he did not know his employment was not legal.

    He said:  “I have worked for the school for about four years. I didn’t know that my employment was illegal. If it was illegal why then was the state government paying us salaries?

    “I developed a stroke because of the sack and was hospitalised for a week. I survived only by the grace of God. My family is facing eviction as I have been given a quit notice by my landlord. Even to eat now is a problem not to talk of paying my children’s school fees.”

    The Chairman, Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), Comrade Greg Esheya,  refused to comment.

    But, a source in the union said it was not the workers’ fault that they were employed illegally, adding that they should not be victimised for what he called management’s “mistake.”

    He said the management should also be punished for its role in the matter.

    The teacher, however, urged the government to initiate a fresh recruitment to fill the vacancies created by the sack.

    “The sacked staff should be given the right of first refusal to apply for the jobs because it wasn’t their fault that their appointments were not regularised. Many of them have families and with the situation of the economy it will not be easy for them if they are dumped into the labour market.

    “These workers have worked for many years, some up to four years. They should be allowed to apply and be properly screened and if they are qualified, should be re-employed while those who are found wanting can be thrown out,” the source said.

    Students are worried about the implication of the sack on the completion of their programmes.

    Some of them told The Nation that more than six departments in the institution risk being shut by the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE).

    A final year student of the department of Primary Education, Ifeoma Obinwa, in tears, said with the sack, the department is now left with five lecturers – three short of the minimum required for a department to exist.

    Obinwa said: “The governor’s directive which led to the sack of the lecturers does not just affect the lecturers, the students and parents who have children in the affected departments are the most hit because when the departments are shut, we have no other option than to either start looking for admission into other tertiary institutions as year one students or we would become dropouts.

    “That’s not all; the money our parents must have spent from our first year to our final year would now be fruitless venture. How many of them would survive the shock of getting to hear that their children who are in their final year turned out to drop out of school for no fault of theirs?”

    Obinwa said the worst hit was the Staff School, where only one teacher was retained.  The staff school serves as a prerequisite for the primary education department of the institution.

    “Even if the department meets up with the required eight lecturers, the primary school which is a prerequisite to establishing the Primary Education department is now left with only one teacher which automatically would be shut down by NCCE,” she said.

    A final year student of Mathematics, Chukwubuike Igwe, appealed to Governor Umahi to consider the plight of the students, their parents and benefactors.

    “We believe our governor is a listening father who is interested in seeing to the success of students in the different institutions in the state and we are optimistic that he would not wish that hundreds of students especially indigenes of Ebonyi state would drop out of school.

    “In mathematics department, after the sack, we were left with just five lecturers while the prerequisite is at least 12 lecturers. There is no doubt that the NCCE would soon clamp down on the institution,” he said.

    Igwe said their dream of graduating before the end of the year may not be realised even if new workers were employed.

    “By the time they conclude the recruitment one or two semesters must have elapsed. The governor should intervene urgently to save our career and future,” he said.

    But, Nwankwo disagreed that the institution may lose its accreditation because of the sack, arguing that it could devise remedial measures to handle the situation.

    “The governor is somebody who is interested in uplifting the standard of education in the state and I am sure he will ensure that replacements are immediately found for the sacked staff,” he said.

    Prof Omebe and the registrar, Mr Samuel Nwarisi, refused to comment.  The Commissioner for Education, Prof John Ekeh, also did not comment, saying he was out of the state on health grounds.

    However, an Ebonyi State Ministry of Education official told our reporter that the ministry is liaising with the government and the college to give the sacked workers a soft landing or re-employ them.

  • Students decry sack of 83 Ebonyi lecturers

    Students of Ebonyi State College of Education at Ikwo at the weekend expressed concern over Governor Dave Umahi’s sack of 83 of their lecturers.

    The lecturers were reportedly disengaged, following the governor’s directive when he received the report of a committee set up to investigate the institution’s administration, which was said to have uncovered irregularities in the school.

    Some of the students told our reporters in Abakaliki, the state capital, that with the sack of the lecturers, who were employed between 2011 and this year, over six departments in the school might be shut down by the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE).

    Governor Umahi had said the sack should be done before the government reviewed the committee’s report or embark on visit to the institution.

    He said: “It is normal to recruit staff to achieve institutions’ accreditation objectives but the fact remains that they are not permanent staff.”

    A final year student in the Department of Primary Education, Miss Ifeoma Obinwa, regretted that the department was left with five lecturers while the minimum requirement for the department was eight lecturers.

    She said: “The governor’s directive, which led to the sack of the lecturers, does not just affect the lecturers. The students and parents, who have their wards in the affected departments, are the most hit because when the departments are shutdown, we have no other option than to either start looking for admission in other tertiary institution, as Year One students, or we would turn out as dropouts.

    “That’s not all. The money our parents have spent from our first year to our final year would now be fruitless. How many of them would survive the shock of getting to hear that their children, who were in their final year, have become dropouts for no fault of theirs?

    “Even if a department meets up with the required eight lecturers, the school’s prerequisite to establishing the Primary Education Department is now left with only one teacher. This would automatically mean a shutdown by NCCE.”

  • Ebonyi drivers warned against over speeding

    Special Marshals of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Ebonyi State at the weekend held a safety campaign on the need to ensure zero tolerance for road accidents, especially during Easter.

    This followed the death of nine persons on the Enugu-Abakaliki Expressway last week.

    The Special Marshals visited schools, churches and parks to educate road users, including motorists, on the best safety measures to adopt to avoid road accident.

    State Coordinator Dr. Henry Urochukwu said the exercise was a regular patrol embarked upon by the special marshals. He urged drivers to avoid over speeding.

    Sector Commander Charles Aborchi enjoined drivers to avoid night journeys as most accidents are recorded at night, even as he warned them against drinking and driving.

    He urged the motorists to avoid using expired tyres, overloading and over speeding.

  • Ebonyi: Police launch manhunt for rapist

    Ebonyi: Police launch manhunt for rapist

    Detectives of Ebonyi State Police command have launched a manhunt for one Sunday Obaji for allegedly raping one Mgbada Chioma .

    The incident it was reliably gathered happened at Effium community in Ohaukwu local government area.

    Police Spokesman ASP George Okafor confirmed the incident to our reporter.

    He said the suspect barged into the victim’s room and raped her at gun point.

    While noting that the community should assist in apprehending the suspect the spokesman reiterated the resolve of the command to fight the scourge of violence against women to standstill.

    He said: “On the 7th of March, 2016, one Mgbada Chioma from Effium community, Ohaukwu local government reported to the police that at about 2:am in the morning, one SundayObaji entered her bed room, pointed gun at her and threatened to kill her if she raised alarm”.

    “On the process, with the threat of the gun, Sunday Obaji tore her dresses and had unlawful carnal knowledge of her and after that, he escaped”.

    “The girl reported the matter to the police and the scene has been visited. The matter is under investigation”. The suspect is on the run; we are trying to trace him to wherever we can. He cannot run for long”.

    “The community should assist in producing him because they known him very well. How can a lady be sleeping at night, a man will move in and raped her on gunpoint and ran away”.

    “We are talking about violence against women and this is one of such violence. Wherever this man is, we must fish him out. He must be punished and we are calling on this community to do something immediately and produce this suspect”.

    “He is a native of the community; even if he escaped from the community, they have to fish him out.”