……As Community Goes Spiritual In Search Of Perpetrators In Edo
Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
Suspected hoodlums have vandalized a newly constructed police station in Ugbineh community in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo state as the inhabitants embarked on a spiritual exercise to lay curses on the perpetrators.
The hoodlums were reported to have carted away funiture, electrical cables and fittings.
The station was said to have been built through communal efforts and was yet to be commissioned for use at the time of the incident.
An elder in Ugbineh community, Pa. Sunday Iyoha, condemned the vandalism, noting that the police station was constructed to tackle insecurity in the locality.
“As we were planning to inaugurate the project, criminals invaded the police station and vandalised equipment in the building”, Iyoha said.
Angered over the development, it was gathered that elders of the community engaged the services of traditional priests to invoked curses on individuals involved in the burgled station.
The priests who reportedly performed the traditional rites in the community, asked God and the ancestors to punish the perpetrators.
The traditional worshippers were said to have matched through the the community, slaughtering animals at strategic locations.
In a swift reaction, the Edo state police command image maker, SP, Moses Yamu, said operatives have received the report of the incident, noting that investigations have begun.
According to him, “we are meeting with community leaders on this unfortunate incident while tactical teams have been deployed to comb the crime scene and its surrounding for possible arrest of the suspects.
“The Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) sharing boundaries with that area have also been alerted on the matter to be on the look out for these suspects.”