Police Commissioner in Abia, Mr Ene Okon has vowed to unravel culprits involved in the murder and removal of the body parts of a young man in Aba on Tuesday night.
Okon made the vow in a phone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Aba on Wednesday.
“The information I heard was that the man was a mentally deranged person but the removal of his parts is what I do not understand.
“If they are now removing the body parts of lunatics for rituals, that is adding another dimension to criminality which is very strange and which Operation Puff Adder will work towards that area.
“Be rest assured that we will investigate that murder because although the report I heard was that the man was a lunatic, even a lunatic cannot just die like that so we are going to investigate it,” he said.
The sighting of the young man’s lifeless body with heart and private part removed threw Aba residents into panic Wednesday as they suspected the style of murder signaled the return of ritual killers to Aba.
The body of the yet-to-be-identified young man was discovered early in the morning by traders going to the market and was dumped at Bata Junction faced down.
The young man, who should be in his early 30s, had his intestines pulled out from the belly and some other parts missing in the style, residents said, was akin to ritual killing.
A source, who refused to be named, said the killing of the young man with his traveling bag beside him may have happened in the late hours of Tuesday or early hours of Wednesday.
“I tell you, this kind of killing which showed the parts of this young man harvested, has caused me to shiver and fear because if this kind of thing is to return to Aba, then we are in big trouble.
“Who will chase after them? Who can stop them?
“Robbers have been robbing and killing people with tricycles even near police and military checkpoints and nothing has happened, tell me how can we be safe in this city with ritualists?” the source said.
Emeka Anyawu, a tricycle riders said, “The issue looks more like money ritual because the place they dumped his body is strategic in this town.
“Bata Junction is like a confluence in Aba because almost everyone entering the main town must pass through here. Honestly, Aba is sinking, security wise.”
NAN learnt that the matter was reported to the nearest police station which is Eziama Police station and also the Aba South Environmental Health department in the morning.
However, the corpse remained at the centre of the junction till late Wednesday although it had been covered with cellophane material.
When contacted, the Head of Department, Environmental Health, Aba South LGA, Mrs. Onyinyechi Nwigwe said she had inspected the corpse but cannot order removal because it required police approval.
Nwigwe however, said that if no member of the victim’s family showed up to evacuate his body, the health office would then do their work.
“It is under our jurisdiction; we are aware of it; I have been there to observe the place and the deceased is not even a mad person; he is a young man.
“I don’t know what really happened there. It is the police that will carry out investigation and we expect that through the media, the family members might be reached.
“If it remains there till tomorrow morning, we will handle it. Nobody has identified the corpse for now.
“We cannot allow it to become a public nuisance. We cannot allow it to decompose there. We’ll handle it by tomorrow if nobody comes in for it today,” she said.
