A 48-year-old cleric identified as Otobong Emerson has been arrested by the Edo State police command for defiling five minors.
Emerson, of Believers’ Ministry Church Incorporated, located at No. 146, Upper Owina, Off Evbuotubu, Benin, allegedly defiled Blessing, Doris, Rita, Igbinoba and Christabel, aged between six and 11 years. He was said to have perpetrated the act between December 2019 and February 2020.
The Police spokesman in the state, Chidi Nwabuzor, on Friday during a news conference at the command’s headquarters, Benin, disclosed that the cleric made a statement and confessed to the crime, adding: “The case had already been charged to court and the suspect remanded in police custody, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but he will appear again in court on June 11 this year.
Nwabuzor, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), also shared the story of a couple who sold their two-month-old baby for N300,000 in the state.
He said: “On May 4, 2020, the Command’s Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, while acting on credible information, arrested a couple, Mr. Joshua Aiworo ‘m’ aged 38 years and Blessing Ogieva ‘f’ aged 25 years, of Afua, Upper Sakponba Road, Benin City for stealing and selling a baby of two months and seven days old to one Felicia Imaguomaruomwan ‘f’ for N300,000.00.
“During investigation, Mr. Joshua Aiworo and Blessing Ogieva confessed that they gave birth to the baby on February 24, 2020 at Oghosa Clinic, Independent Street, Off Nomayo, Benin City.
“They also confessed that one Joy Samuel, a.k.a. Mama Jennifer, who is based in Italy, linked them up with the buyer, one Felicia Imaguomaruomwan, who corroborated the first and second suspects’ statements that she bought the baby from them because she was unable to bear a child.”
“The baby has been taken to Uyiosa Orphanage Home at Oka, Upper Sakponba Road, Benin City for care, while suspects will soon be charged to court.”
