Follow Us on Google
From Tony Osauzo, Benin
Bad or negative news spread fast with the speed of light. So, since late Wednesday night when operatives of the Edo State Police Command announced the discovery of an alleged ritual shrine where it found 20 mummified bodies and arrested three suspects, the news went viral on social media platforms and in the conventional media, both electronic and print.
The Command had in a press statement signed by its deputy Spokesperson, ASP Jennifer Iwegbu, said: “In pursuance of its operational mandate of nipping crimes in the bud, Operatives of the Edo State Police Command today 17/08/2022 unravelled a suspected ritual shrine.
“Following credible information at the Command’s disposal that some corpses were discovered in a building along Asoro slope off Ekenhua road, Uzebu quarters, Benin City, Operatives of the command immediately swung into action and mobilized to the scene.
“At the scene, three suspects, Chimaobi Okoewu ‘M’ and Oko Samuel ‘M’ both of Afikpo in Ebonyi and Gideon Sunday ‘M’ of Akwa-Ibom State were arrested while others fled. An intensive effort is ongoing to arrest the other fleeing suspects.
“15 mummified male corpses, three mummified female corpses and two mummified children corpses were discovered at the scene.
“To this end, the Edo State Commissioner of Police, CP Abutu Yaro, fdc, has directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of state CID to carry out a discreet investigation to unravel the circumstances surrounding the discovered corpses and therefore enjoins the general public to be calm as the command will continue to ensure the safety of all law-abiding citizens and those residing in Edo State.”
The police claim elicited mixed reactions, with the leadership and members of Edo Civil Society Organisations led by its Interim TEC Chairman, Leftist Austine Enabulele, faulting the claim.
“The news became worrisome to us as Edo people have no history of ritualism or its likes. More troublesome to us is the fact that, it was the Police Public Relations Officer of Edo State Command that led a media report on same which would have suggested that proper investigation would have been carried out to arrive at what was reported in the media”, the group said in a statement signed by its Interim Public Relations Officer, Leftist Aliyu Unweni.
It explained that from its findings, the said building where the mummified corpses were found is not a ritualists’ den, but a newly built morgue to house evacuated corpses from an old facility because the operator had been given a quit notice there.
“The operational name of the morgue is St. Gabriel Funeral Home with other offices at No. 24, Ist Federal Road, Benin City. It has branches in Anambra State, Ebonyi State, Murtala Mohammed Way and Ist East Circular road where the corpses were moved from.
“The shrine discovered was said to be a traditional form of worship by the proprietor as a spiritual protection for himself and the business.
“The police didn’t conduct investigation before addressing the media thereby raising an alarm of a ritualists’ shrine.
“As at the time of putting this report together, the police had not visited other branches of the morgue in different parts of the city.
“The videos of corpses in circulation revealed that some of the corpses had name tags and medical equipment were visible as well in the building. Further interview with one of the morgue personnel in another of their branch office revealed that there is a register of all the corpses in the facility and that some of the owners have started to call to take away their deposited corpses.
“Our team of investigators were denied access to the morgue by members of the vigilance group that have been stationed there.
“Flowing from the above, it is now convenient to state that, the insinuation by the police that it is a ritualists’ den is hereby debunked and dismissed as false alarm and an attempt to paint the good people of Edo in bad light. This is not to state that, the morgue might not be an illegal one or does not have the requisite permits to operate a morgue which should be subjected to thorough investigation by the police”, the group demanded.
The group also came hard on the Edo State government, saying that the development had shown that the government lacked own intelligence gathering mechanism to filter stories as it was seen sharing the same misinformation from the police to the de-marketing of the state and her people to the outside world.
“Edo state government should have been seen mitigating against the spread of such negative story from the state, instead it was a major promoter of it. This is disappointing to say the least”, the Edo Civil Society Organizations lamented, even as it awaits the final outcome of the police investigation on the subject matter “to put the record straight by stating the true position of the issues”.
The statements of some of the ‘suspects’ arrested by the police at the alleged ritualist den alligned with the findings of the Edo Civil Society Organizations.
One of the suspects, Chimaobi Okoewu, who stated that he was supervising a POP work in the building, said that the corpses were transferred to the new place, which is a proposed permanent site for a mortuary.
“I was supervising a POP work in the building. The corpses they found there were the ones they transferred from the place they were kept before to this new place.
“The owner of the place is a mortician. He was told by his landlord to pack out of his former place. So, he decided to relocate the corpses to his permanent site which is his own personal building. He was in a rented apartment before now.
Another ‘suspect’, Gideon Friday, who said that he had applied for the post of a driver, stated that he came to check if his application had been granted only to be beaten by youths in the community.
“I came to check if my application was granted haven applied for a driving job here. So, when I got to this place to ask for the director, some community people came and started beating me up.
“I told those that were beating me that I only came to check if my application has been granted, but the community people didn’t listen and kept beating me. They later took me to the police station.”
Similarly, Samuel Okoh, another ‘suspect’, said the owner of the building is his boss who is a mortician.
He explained that the building is proposed site for a mortuary, adding that “my boss had to relocate from were he was because the roof was leaking so he decided to relocate to his permanent site”.
When Sunday Sun Correspondent visited another branch of the Gabriel Funeral Home at St. John Hospital located at 24, First Federal Road, off Okhoro in Benin City, the Manager, Iroabushi Okoewa, stated that he had just gone to drop cement for POP work at the permanent site under construction at Asoro in Uzebu quarters when news came shortly after he left, that police had invaded the place and arrested workers on site on the allegation that the place was a ritualist’s den.
He explained that the Managing Director of Gabriel Funeral Home, Mr Gabriel Chukwu Otuu, who had previously worked as a mortician with St. Mary Magdalena Hospital in Benin City, bought the land and started building a morgue after he was given quit notice at his former branch at Ist East Circular Road in Benin City.
He debunked police allegation of the place being a ritualist’s den, saying that “people can’t do ritualist business in such an open place,” which has other two morgues, Time Mortuary and God’s Care Mortuary in the same vicinity.
Iroabushi who showed Sunday Sun Correspondent the record book of corpses deposited at the morgue, said that some people leave their corpses for five years or more because of cases or family problems over burial.
He said that corpses found at the alleged ‘ritualist’s den’ have records and tags.
Sunday Sun Correspondent noticed the case of a woman who died in her apartment from home accident without her neighbours’ knowledge.
Iroabushi said that it was after two weeks when the odour from the decaying body began to ooze out that the neighbours suspected that all was not well and informed the police who came to break the door and recover the body before it was brought to the morgue with police report stating the cause of death before the body was accepted at the branch of the morgue.
The proprietor and Managing Director of Gabriel Funeral Home, Mr Gabriel Chukwu Otuu, who was said to have travelled to his Ebonyi native state when police stormed his morgue under construction, told Sunday Sun on phone that he has approval to operate the morgue.
“I have approval, the police that came carted away my documents and tags of some of the corpses”, he added and declined to speak further until he appears before the police.
But one of his confidants who spoke to Sunday Sun on condition of anonymity, debunked the insinuation that Otuu was on the run.
“When the incident happened, he was in Ebonyi. I then called the Manager, Iroabushi, who expressed shock.
He called Otuu to inform him. Otuu is not running, he would appear at the police on Monday”, the confidant stated.
On the shrine found at the premises of the morgue, he said: “I will not call it a shrine, it is an altar. Every man has his belief and mode of worship”, he explained.
A source, however, told Sunday Sun that it is common to find morticians worship or serve deities or objects to fortify themselves because of the nature of their job which has to do with dead bodies and spirits.
In the meantime, the Edo State governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has given the state Police Command seven days to unravel the mystery surrounding the 20 corpses found at the contentious morgue.
The people of Edo State and Nigeria await the outcome of investigation of the matter.
