Indigenes of over 22 communities in Inikorogha, Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo State, on Wednesday, staged a peaceful protest over plans to withdraw the security agencies maintaining peace in the area.

The protesters who came out in large numbers carried different placards with various inscriptions such as, “Come to our aid, Mr Governor”; We need peace to do our business in Inikorogha”; and “Armed robbers come here to rape & rob our wives and women” among others.

Addressing journalists on Wednesday, the Chairman of Inikorogha community, Friday Benson, appealed to Governor Godwin Obaseki to see to the extension and increase of security personnel in the community instead of withdrawing them.

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He said, “What we are saying in essence is that nobody should truncate the effort of the governor with plans to remove security operatives from our communities. We know some highly placed individuals are behind this move but it won’t work. Security has greatly improved in the last one and a half years.

“In the past, we suffered serious attacks by criminal elements but now, we have a strong presence of security personnel with the deployment of special forces at Mile 3. Their presence has halted the activities of unscrupulous elements in the area.”

The Chairman of the Elders Council, Philip Polo, called for more deployment of security operatives while commending the governor for the road construction in Inikorogha.

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He added, “We want to first of all thank Governor Obaseki; he has performed well in terms of infrastructure but sadly that has given birth to some unscrupulous criminals that have made Inikorogha uninhabitable.

“But when the security personnel came, everybody was relieved. The situation now is that these same people are trying to pull the strings from behind. We have information that they are trying to ensure that the special forces are withdrawn,” he added.

A 19-year-old man arraigned before Mutawatawa magistrate on charges of having sexual intercourse with his 14-year-old sister in Uzumba, Zimbabwe, has been convicted.

It was gathered that in January 2023, the 19-year-old man decided to take things a notch up bizarrely as he chatted with his sister. He asked his sister to be his girlfriend. Strangely, the 14-year-old admitted to feeling the same way for her brother.

The two decided to hit it off and start dating. They decided to keep their relationship under wraps, knowing how much trouble it would attract if ever known.

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During their relationship, the 19-year-old man convinced his sister to have sex with him. She agreed, and the two did the act on different occasions, both at home and in the garden. However, the girl later got pregnant and this was noticed by their grandmother.

Upon being questioned, she revealed her brother was responsible. The grandmother reported the case to the police, leading to the 19-year-old man’s arrest for incest. He appeared in a Mutawatawa Court, where the Magistrate sentenced him to 14 months in jail. Two months were struck off, and he will serve an effective 12 months.

A 75-year-old barber, Nwankwo Nweke has been arrested for defiling an 8-year-old girl in Awka, the Anambra State capital.

The suspect, who hails from Isi Agu in Awka South Local Government Area of the state, confessed to the crime, claiming that ‘temptation that made him have carnal knowledge of the girl.’

The suspect pleaded for mercy and promised to be of good behaviour if the state government pardoned him.

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The parents of the victim, Mr John and Mrs Ogochukwu Ugwuanyi explained that they sent their child to get something at a nearby shop around 7pm. When she came back they noticed the items weren’t complete and asked her to return to the shop after which they started looking for her.

The parents stated that they quickly went to the shop to look for her but didn’t see her which prompted them to raise alarm over her sudden disappearance in the neighborhood.

Unknown to them, the suspect had already taken her to his house and told her not to answer her name.

They revealed that the suspect, who at the time was their neighbour, pushed the 8-year-old out of his room when he felt the search was over.

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On how they knew what transpired between their daughter and the suspect, Mr and Mrs Ugwuanyi said that when their daughter finally came back that night, they questioned her to know what happened.

She told them that the suspect lured her to his house with a promise to give her mango.

They noted that it was at that point that they involved security operatives before taking their child to the hospital.