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| Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Musa Kimo |
THE Rivers State Police Command has
attributed the death of a cleric, Pastor Geoffrey Ogagaghene, and six
other persons to Thursday’s raid of Ohali-Elu town in Ogba/Egbema by a
group of armed men suspected to be herdsmen.
The command disagreed with reports that
16 persons were killed during the raid by the herdsmen, saying that
seven persons died during the attack.
A statement signed by the State Police
Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ahmad Muhammad, on behalf of the
Commissioner of Police, Mr. Musa Kimo, indicated that Pastor Ogagaghene
was inflicted with machete cuts, which led to his death.
Kimo said in the statement that the
herdsmen’s raid of the community was as a result of an alleged stealing
of a cow by some youths in the community, but added that no case of cow
theft was reported to the police.
“The Command found it instructive to
state that on Thursday 30/03/2016 at about 5:30 am, the police in Egi
Division received a report that on Wednesday 29/03/2016 at about 10:00
pm unidentified assailants suspected to be herdsmen struck in Ohali-Elu
town leaving one Pastor Geoffrey Ogagaghene with severe cutlass cuts
that later led to his death.
“It is also pertinent to state that in
the build-up to the attack, there was a case of stealing of unspecified
number of cows belonging to some herdsmen allegedly perpetrated by the
youths of the community, but the case was never reported to the police.
“It is reasonably suspected that the
attack might have been carried out by the herdsmen as reprisal for
stealing their cows. Unconfirmed sources indicated six other persons
lost their lives after the attack.
“But the death of these six persons
still remains unconfirmed for the simple reason that the police neither
recovered nor visibly saw the corpses at the time of responding to the
incident,” Kimo said.
He, however, stated that the Command could only confirm the death of Pastor Ogagaghene, whose corpse was seen and identified.
Explaining that the situation in
Ohali-Elu town was currently calm, the state CP pointed out the Command
had put measures in place to prevent any breakdown of law and order.
“The situation now in Ohali-Elu town is
calm as the Command has taken full control with the deployment of
adequate armed mobile policemen to forestall further breakdown of law
and order.
“Investigation into the incident is now
at its peak with a view to bringing the outcome to members of the public
and perpetrators of the dastardly act to justice,” Kimo stressed.
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PLEASE BE POLITE