PDP Chieftain, Three Others Nabbed over Death of Teenage Girl in Delta

A former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, Chief Kings Okpako, and a 32-year-old man have been arrested by the police for their alleged involvement in the murder of an 18-year old in the university town of Abraka.

It was learnt that the arrest followed the discovery by residents of the mutilated corpse of the teenage girl concealed in a sack and kept in a waste dump.

A crack team of police detectives led by the divisional police officer (DPO) in charge of Abraka Police Station, Mr. Hassan Jimoh, in its efforts to unravel the mysterious death of the girl, subsequently nabbed the politician and another suspect alleged to be the 'boyfriend' of the deceased.

In another development, the police also arrested two men for alleged defilement of a two-year old infant and ten-year-old girl.

In the first incident, a 58-year man accused of having canal knowledge of a 10-year-old girl in Eku, a neighboring town of Abraka, also in Ethiope East Local Government Area of the state.

Similarly, a 52-year-old man was on June 27, 2019, arrested by the police in Ovwian-Aladja in Udu Local Government Area of the state for allegedly defiling a two-year-old girl.

The state police spokeswoman, DSP Onome Onovwakpoyewa, who confirmed the different arrests on Sunday, said the four suspects arrested in connection with the three incidents would be arraigned as soon as due investigations were concluded.

While giving details on the suspected ritual-related murder in Abraka, the state Police Public Relations Officer said: “On June 18, 2019, a sack containing a lifeless body of a teenage girl of about 18 years was found in a heap of dustbin in Abraka. On inspection of the corpse by the police, marks of violence were obvious on the deceased neck which implied she could have been killed by unknown person or persons.

''Subsequently, in the course of police investigation, the male friend of the deceased, one 32-year-old Henry Ikechukwu, who was last seen with the deceased on June 17, 2019, and had been on the run since the incident, was tracked down and arrested on June 28, 2019.''

The said known boyfriend of the deceased, on interrogation, allegedly confessed to have invited the deceased for an outing on June 17, 2019, from where he lured her and handed her over to a prominent chief in the town (Abraka), who gave him the assignment to get the deceased for him.''

 Onovwakpoyewa said the local PDP chieftain, who holds a traditional chieftaincy title, “has also been arrested, and the two suspects are presently in police custody pending investigation. They will soon appear in court immediately after the completion of the ongoing police investigation.''

Similarly, the two suspected rapists arrested in Eku and Ovwian-Aladja were equally in police custody and might be charged to court today, the police spokeswoman said.

She said the state Commissioner of Police, “Mr Adeyinka Adeleke, has advised parents to keep close watch on their under-aged female children to avoid them falling victim of rapists.”

Three incidents of alleged defilement of under-aged girls, the oldest being 10 years, have been reported in the state over a three-week period.

“The growing cases of ritual-related killings as well as rape cases including juveniles in Delta and other states in Nigeria are believed in some quarters not to be unconnected with the get-rich syndrome in the country,” she said.

A 300 level mass communication student of Delta State University, Abraka, Miss Elozino Ogege, was late last year gruesomely murdered by ritualists who pretended to be helping her secure off-campus accommodation in the town. Several persons, including a so-called herbalist or witchdoctor arrested in connection with Elozino's murder have since been arraigned.