GIRL, 17, RESCUED FROM SUSPECTED RITUALISTS

Published in Punch of Monday June 12, 2006

By Fidelis Soriwei.

Men of the Imo State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps have rescued a 17 year old girl from suspected ritualists, who have converted the former state secretariat complex on Okigwe Road to their hideout.

The NSCDC, in a statement by the command’s Public Relation Officer, Mr. Amechi Regius, on Sunday said the girl who hailed from Umudu Obitti in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area was abducted while on a business trip to Owerri. 

According to Regius, the girl, who was initially unconscious, disclosed that the suspected ritualists keep their victims in the hideout until their buyers approached them.

She said two other girls were unlucky as their captors took them out of the one room apartment at about 2am and returned to the place at about 5am to argue over the sharing formulae of the proceeds from the sales.

The Command’s Acting Commandant, Mr. Sam Onyemachi, was quoted as saying that the ritualists, who are still at large, have been carrying out their nefarious acts with charms and dangerous weapons with the Okigwe Road Secretariat as their hideout.

He asked all those who have unlawfully converted the old secretariat to residential quarters to quit in the interest of the public.

Onyemachi also advised the public to be careful in their dealings with touts operating motor parks across the state.

He called on operators of motor parks in the state to give the necessary support and cooperation to security operatives with a view to curtailing crime in the state.

Nogi Imoukhuede,
Project Coordinator,
Women's Rights Watch Nigeria-www.rufarm.kabissa.org