Obi offers reward for clues on floating bodies

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Governor of Nigeria’s eastern state of Anambra, Peter Obi, has offered a N5million reward for clues on the corpses found floating on Ezu River yesterday.

His offer came as the police reported that the number of the corpses had increased to 18.

Anambra Deputy Police Public Relations Officer , Mr Emeka Chukwuemeka, said all the bodies had been removed.

Members of the Amansea community, near Awka, had woken up Saturday morning to discover 15 corpses afloat the river bordering Anambra and Enugu states.

Governor Obi visited the scene of the ghastly discovery today and described the killing as ‘mindless’ and dumping of the corpses as “barbaric and shocking.”

“What happened here is unacceptable in any decent society. Human life and blood is sacred and all of us must respect the sanctity of human life,” Obi said.

Obi assured that Anambra and Enugu state governments would leave no stone unturned to get to the root of the matter, irrespective of whom the victims were. Governor Obi’s counterpart in Enugu state, Sullivan Chime has been away overseas since September 2012 for medical treatment of his serious heart ailment.

Obi, who was accompanied by the State Police Commissioner, Mr Bala Nassarawa and other top government officials, urged the people to remain calm as the state governments were on top of the situation. The governor explained that he had to cut short his overseas trip to come and see things for himself.

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“The police have been directed to move in their homicide teams and recover the bodies.” he said.

The governor directed residents of the two communities bordering the river, Amansea in Anambra and Ugwuoba in Enugu State, to desist from fetching water from the river until the river was cleared and cleaned up.

Meanwhile, evacuation of the bodies began at about 4 pm on Sunday with a discovery of three additional corpses, bringing the total number to 18.

The evacuation was done by some officials in traditional canoes, who moved around the river retrieving bodies to a designated place, apparently for mass burial.

Also on duty for the evacuation were pathologists from the Police and state government, who were expected to carry out autopsy on some of the bodies retrieved.

The State Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Mrs Azuka Enemuo, confirmed the evacuation exercise and water supply.

“We will commence drilling of boreholes on Monday to further ameliorate the water plight of the community.”

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