The governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has asked the public to be calm and has given the police seven days to conduct a comprehensive investigation to find out the ownership and purpose of the facility where 20 mummified bodies were discovered in Benin.
Obaseki said this at a joint press conference with the police at the headquarters of the Edo State Police Command on Friday.
He was represented by his Special Adviser on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie, who said the public would be updated on the progress of the investigations.
He said: “We want to call for calm from the public. We don’t want to jump to conclusions about the outcome of police investigation, but the police are actively doing their investigations. There are a lot of rumours going around; some people think that the place is a fake morgue or a place for ritual purposes.
“People have been arrested and they are being questioned. Some people are still being sought. The governor has given seven days for them to report back to us with the details of what they have found out. Was it just a morgue or was there any ritual involved? No conclusions have been made yet so police will be allowed to do its work.
“We will keep briefing the public and we are also taking steps through the Ministry of Health to ensure that there is no public health crisis in that area. Edo is safe and there is no proof yet that anything ritual is involved until the police are done with their investigation.”
The Deputy Commissioner of Police, SCID, Olawore Oluwole, who is in charge of the investigation, assured that the police would do a thorough job.
He said, “Based on reliable intelligence, a bungalow located at Asoro was found to have some dried bodies and some items like generator, gas cylinder, oxygen cylinder. Five suspects were arrested and they are Chimaobi Okoewu and Samuel Okoh both from Ebonyi State, Gideon Sunday from Akwa-Ibom, Victor Obeche from Anambra and Yusuf Lawal from Katsina State.
“So far, we are still looking for one of the suspects and efforts are being made to get him and his name is Otu Chukwu who is alleged to be the owner of the bungalow. I want to appeal to all members of the public to stay calm as the command is promising that everything will be done to ensure that all hidden facts are revealed,” he said.
