PAMELA EBOH, Awka

Local Security operatives operating in Umudiana, Umueri, Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State in the week hours of Tuesday, Oct, 13, 2025 arrested five persons allegedly involved in the sale of dead and decaying cows and goats used for traditional sacrifices at the Omambala River to food vendors.

According to the narrator of a video that has been made public, the decaying animals after collection in the dead of the night are taken to a food vendor in Onitsha, Nimo and Ifitedunu both in Njikoka Local Government Area of the stste to use as protein for food sold to unsuspecting consumers.

He said: "We caught them during a routine security check around 3am this morning. It was the stench that attracted us. When we interrogated them, they said they picked the dead animals used for sacrifice and rituals from Omambala River.

“They asked to settle us and we refused and told them we will be handing them over to the right authorities. This can cause great health hazard to people that eat it.”

The suspects who were intercepted around 3am conveying the dead animals including chickens in tricycles (Keke) and a shuttle bus include, 25 years old Uchenna Onwura from Aguleri, Chigbogu Ogechi, 35, an indigene of Awkuzu, Obalim Chukwujekwu (25, Aguleri), Onyemelichi Chukwuemeka (27, Aguleri), and 27 years old Onyibor John, also a native of Aguleri.

Recoveries from the suspects include, four dead cows and an undisclosed number of goats and fowls (both dead and alive), which the narrator said were emitting a foul stench and also attracting flies, as was seen in the video.

Speaking during interrogation, the suspects reportedly confessed that they retrieved the dead animals from the Omambala River, where traditionalists had used them for sacrificial rituals and disposed of them after the rites.

They admitted to being in the illegal business of selling the decaying ritual animals to food vendors at cheap prices, despite their awareness that some of the animals were already decomposing and unhealthy e for consumption.

One of the suspects, Chigbogu Ogechi, a 35-year-old woman from Awkuzu in Oyi Local Government Area, confessed to selling some of the recovered items at Nkwo Ifitedunu and Oye Nimo markets.

She also listed some of their regular buyers to include, Uzochukwu Odikpo, popularly known as Mama Kosi from Aguleri, who runs a restaurant, and “Nwanyi Aba” of Okpoko, who reportedly sells food and fried meat.

The suspects further revealed d that the group had been “settling” some security personnel in the past to allow their operations to continue unchecked.

When interrogated, Mama Kosi allegedly admitted to being aware that the animals were being brought from the river after sacrificial rituals but claimed she was not using the meat for cooking.

According to her, the meat displayed in her shop’s showglass for customers was not sourced from the river.

It was however gathered that operatives of the Udo Ga-Ach? Security Network are currently handling the investigation and are working to unravel the full network of individuals involved in the ugly trade.