Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, yesterday, gave the state Commissioner of Police, Abutu Yaro, seven days ultimatum to unravel the circumstances surrounding the 20 embalmed bodies found in an uncompleted building in Ekenwan road axis of Benin City.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie, announced the ultimatum at a joint press conference with the Police.

Obaseki said various reports have emerged since the news about 20 the bodies found in an uncompleted building and shrine broke out in the state.

He said this has given room to comments from various citizens of the state and across the federation, adding that it is proper for citizens to know the truth and the police should help out in a record time.

“We don’t want to preempt the outcome of police investigation but the police is actively doing their investigations, a lot of speculations going around, some people suspect that the place is a quack morgue where they preserve bodies.

“All kinds of speculations are out there. So, we are going to leave that to the police to conclude their investigations and brief us on exactly what is going on there.

“Some people have been apprehended. They are undergoing questioning. Some people are still being looked for. They will be apprehended and they will contribute useful information as well and in due course. The governor has actually giviegus seven days for them to come back to us with details of what they find out; was it just a morgue, was any ritual involved? What actually is the situation?

“No conclusion has been drawn yet. So the police will be allowed to do their job. They are actively on it. We are going to give them time to come back and brief us. We are going to ensure that we are going to be continually brief the public about what is going on,” he said.

Obaseki added that the health implication of the bodies on the citizens of the state is also going to be considered.

“At the same time, we are also taking public health measures to ensure that just because we have these bodies there, that there is no public health risk around the neighborhood. Steps are being taken by the Edo State Ministry of Health and that is why we have the Permanent Secretary here.

“We have the Director of Public Health also here to ensure that there is no public health crisis resulting from this,” he said, urging the people of the state to be calm and remain law abiding.

He stated further that “On the whole, we are just calling for calm. Edo is safe, there is no crisis, there is no indication here that there is any ritual killings involved or anything but a lot of speculations are going on and this is the reason we are doing it police is active in its investigations they will come back to us and let us know exactly what has transpired.”

On his part, the Deputy Commissioner of Police SCID, Olawore Oluwole, who is handling the investigation, assured that the police would do a thorough job.

“Based on credible intelligence, a bungalow was located at Asoro area and in that bungalow we found some dried bodies and some items like generator, gas cylinder, oxygen cylinder; while investigation was in progress, five suspects were arrested and they are Chimaobi Okoewu and Samuel Okoh both from Ebonyi State, Gideon Sunday from Akwa Ibom, Victor Obeche from Anambra and Yusuf Lawal from Katsina state.

“So far we are still looking for one of the suspects and efforts are being made to get him and his name is Otuu Chukwu, who is alleged to be the owner of the bungalow, and soonest he will be apprehended. I want to appeal to all members of the public to remain calm as the Command is assuring that everything will be done to ensure that all hidden facts are unraveled,” Oluwole said. (Daily Sun)

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