24th September, 2021
By Jethro Ibileke/Benin
Officials of Edo State Public Works Volunteers (PUWOV), have arrested one Chinedu Ogu, a fugitive who escaped from the Oko maximum-security Correctional center, Benin City, during the #EndSARS protest that rocked the country last year.
The arrest was carried out in conjunction with police operatives in the State.
Ogu, who was in prison for murder charges, was among the 1,993 inmates who escaped from the two correctional facilities broken into in the state, by hoodlums on October 19, 2020.
According to the state Coordinator of PUWOV, Mukhtar Yusuf-Osagie, the fugitive was apprehended in Benin and returned to custody of the Nigeria Correctional Service, Sapele Road.
According to him, “Officials of PUWOV accosted a commercial motorist who contravened the law, and in a bid to resist arrest and incite passers-by against the officials, he went nude at the scene of offence. He passed out faeces and used the faeces to bathe the PUWOV officials at the scene.
“Luckily, PUWOV officials apprehended him and in the process, it was discovered that he is a fugitive.
“The PUWOV officials informed the police and handed him over to Oba Market Police Division, where further investigations by the police and the Nigeria Correctional Service revealed his name to be one Chinedu Ogu, a fugitive, charged for murder case but escaped during the #EndSARS protests of October 19, 2020.”
“He (Chinedu Ogu) was immediately taken back to custody by the Nigeria Correctional Service, Sapele Road.”
Yusuf-Osagie reaffirmed the scheme’s resolve to restore sanity and discipline in public places.
He noted that PUWOV has been working assiduously with other security agencies to eradicate crime and ensure lasting peace in the state.