The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ovia North-East Local Government Area

  • Parents continue search for stolen daughters

    …Abductors deleted pictures from boyfriends phone

     

    Two siblings who were stolen last week at Utese village in Ovia North East local government area by two women are yet to be seen.

    A search party that combed the bush and forest of Utese and environs returned home without the children.

    The search party had stormed the bush following a revelation from an herbalist that the children were inside the bush with their abductors.

    It would be recalled that the two children identified as Amanda and Christabel were taken to an unknown destination by the two women identified as Rose and Mercy.

    The two women had spent only three weeks as tenants in the victims’ house when the incident happened.

    Read Also:Man sells daughter to ‘bury’ mother-in-law

    Mother of the victims, Faith, had left her children in the custody of the tenants when she was going to the stream to fetch water and all efforts to locate the whereabouts of her children have failed.

    Sources at the village told our reporter that the two suspects deleted their pictures from the phones of their boyfriends before carrying out the abduction.

    The family has visited several motor-parks in the locality with photographs of the children but drivers told them they have not seen them.

    Father of the stolen girls, Omokpia Osaruoname, said he has done everything to know the whereabouts of his daughters but no avail.

    He said, “We are working hard to retrieve my children. They deleted the pictures in their boyfriend phones. The boys said they were not aware that the pictures were deleted.

    “I am no longer sound. My wife is in shock. Two out my three daughters are missing. The problem is that I don’t know where these girls come from. I helped them by giving them accommodation but I didn’t know they have a mission to take my children.”

  • Army denies invading Edo community

    Army denies invading Edo community

    The Nigerian Army has denied media reports that its men and officers invaded and sacked some residents from their homes in Oghede community, Ovia North East local government area.

    It said some indigenous of Oghede community encroached into its land at Ekehuan Military Cantonment.

    A press statement issued by the Public Relations Officer, 4 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Captain Mohammed Maidawa said ‘there was no time Oghede community was invaded by own troops, let alone sacking villagers from their homes.’

    It reads in parts, “The only reason imaginable that would have given rise to this unfounded report is that some unpatriotic persons are desperate to suppress the truth and are prepared to go to any length in an attempt to achieve that.

    “It is important to state that Oghede is one of the communities that host the Ekehuan Military Cantonment. Over the years, these unpatriotic elements in the community have involved in issuing out and selling parts of Nigerian Army land bordering their community to unsuspecting public.”

     

  • Edo: Gunmen kill Chief Imam of Egbeta Mosque

    Edo: Gunmen kill Chief Imam of Egbeta Mosque

    Three gunmen suspected to be assassins have killed the Chief Imam of Egbeta Mosque in Ovia North East local government area, Mallam Saka Afolabi.

     

    Mallam Afolabi was on his way to the mosque in the early hours of Saturday when he was shot dead in the presence of his two sons.

     

    He was said to have been shot on the chest.

     

    One of his sons who was witnessed the killing, Mutiu Afolabi, said three boys accosted them and pointed torch on their faces before shooting his father dead.

     

    He said, “We were going to the mosque when three boys came on a motorcycle. One said, this is the man. They pointed torch at our face and shot my father.”

     

    Confirming the incident, Edo Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Moses Nkombe said those fingered in the murder would be invited for questioning.

     

    DSP Nkombe noted that the claim of alibi was not sufficient for exoneration.

     

    He said men of the homicide department have been tasked to fish out the killers.

  • Police kill suspected armed robber in Benin

    Police kill suspected armed robber in Benin

    ‎Operatives of the Edo State Police Command on Friday shot dead a suspected armed robber at Oluku bypass, in Ovia North-East Local Government Area of the state.

    ‎The suspect was said to have been killed during a shootout between some policemen and an armed robbery syndicate specialised in highway robbery.

    It was learnt that the deceased and other members of the gang had barricaded the bypass and held a group of travellers captive at about 3am.

    However, the police were said to have received a distress call‎ over the armed robbery operation and proceeded to the scene in an armored vehicle.

    The suspected robbers were said to have immediately open‎ed fire on the vehicle but later fled into the bush with injuries when the police responded with gunshots.

    Five travellers were said to have been rescued by the police.

    A source said that some security operatives later conducted a search ‎around the scene of the incident where the body of the deceased robber was recovered.

    ‎The Commissioner of Police, Chris Ezike, while confirming the incident, said that it was part of a mop-up plan to flush out criminals from the state, ahead of the forthcoming governorship election.

    Ezike said, “It is part of our mop-up operation. As the election is in view, we need to keep‎ crime down so that the criminals do not useful in perpetrating violence.