Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, weekend, gave the state Commissioner of Police, CP Abutu Yaro seven days ultimatum to unravel the circumstances surrounding the 20 mumified bodies found in an uncompleted building in Ekenwan road axis of the state.
The state governor gave the order through his Special Adviser on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie at the police state command in Benin.
Obaseki said various reports have emerged since the news about 20 mumified bodies found in an uncompleted building and shrine broke out in the state.
He said this has given rooms for speculations from various citizens of the state and across the federation adding that it is proper for citizens to know the truth and the police should help out in a record time.
“We don’t want to preempt the outcome of police investigations but the police is actively doing their investigations, a lot of speculations going around , some people suspect that the place is a quack morgue where they preserve bodies.
“All kinds of speculations are out there. So, we are going to leave that to the police to conclude their investigations and brief us on exactly what is going on there.
“Some people have been apprehended. They are undergoing questioning. Some people are still being looked for. They will be apprehended and they will contribute useful information as well, in due course, and the governor has giving us seven days for them to come back to us with details of what they find out, was it just a morgue, was any ritual involved? What actually is the situation?
“No conclusion has been drawn yet. So the police will be allowed to do their jobs”.
“They are actively on it. We are going to give them time to come back and brief us.
“We are going to ensure that we are continually briefed and to ensure that the public is updated about what is going on”, he said.
The governor added that the health implications of the mumified bodies on
the citizens of the state is also going to be considered.
“At the same time, we are also taking public health measures to ensure that just because we have these bodies there, that there is no public health risk around the neighborhood.
” Steps are being taken by the Edo State Ministry of Health and that is why we have the Permanent Secretary here.
“We have the Director of Public Health also here to ensure that there is no public health crisis resulting from this”, he said.
Obaseki said the state is calm just as he tasked the citizens of the state to remain law abiding.
“On the whole, we are just calling for calm. Edo is safe, there is no crisis, there is no indication here that there is any ritual killings involved or anything but a lot of speculations are going on and this is the reason the police is active in its investigations. They will come back to us and let us know exactly what has transpired”, he said.
On the part of the Edo State Police Command, through the officer in charge of the Criminal Investigative Department, DCP Olawore Oluwole, said investigation is still ongoing to arrest the operator of the morgue, Chukwu Otu.
