The police also rescued eight children which comprised of five males and three females.
Parading the inmates on Friday, an operative of the Rapid Response Squad that led the operation said that the rescue of the inmates followed credible information by locals at their disposal.
The RRS operative said, “Yesterday night, we decided to visit the place, a four-story building with 10 flats and another adjacent building in the same compound.
“We were able to capture 16 of them, all pregnant. One of the facilitators, Onyinyechi, was also pregnant and another, Ekpene (male) who lives in the compound was also arrested and eight children were recovered.”
The operative said they were still hunting for other occupants, while the investigation has commenced, adding, “We are tracking them”.
Speaking, the state Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Ngozi Felix, represented by her Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Ogechi Oguama, expressed her excitement, stating, “Today, we are celebrating the International Women’s Day, we are receiving back women ‘social mothers’ on their path to destruction.”
He added that the ministry is collaborating with the office of the wife of the state governor to receive the women, and promised to keep them in “good custody while investigation is still on”.
She lamented that most of the vices are poverty-driven and urged parents to be open to their children and train them on the right tradition.
Also speaking, the state governor’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, commended the police and other security agencies on the feat, stating that they have shown commitment and professionalism and this is not the first time they are recording the feat.
“The truth is that if they have not shown professionalism and commitment in ensuring that sanity is ensured, maybe, the discovery may not have been made. The police in the state determined that whoever is involved in the illicit activity must be brought to justice and needs the support of the public through credible information.
“We as a government are committed to ensuring that peace, security and normalcy are restored in our state. The Ministry of Women Affairs in collaboration with the office of the First Lady will do everything humanly possible to ensure that those girls are protected and properly taken care of, while we will give the necessary support to our security agencies, especially the police to ensure that whoever is involved are properly prosecuted,” he said.
Ekeoma appealed to all that “this is not our culture and we are not known for this”. He also appealed to the parents to discourage their children from being involved “in this kind of activity” and advised those who see it as an avenue to make money that this is an unholy business, immoral, unacceptable and anti-society”.
Most of the “Social Women” (inmates) attributed their going there due to abandonment by their parents.
