Edo civil society groups have disputed reports claiming that the building where mummified bodies were found in the state is a ritualist den

Edo civil society groups have disputed reports claiming that the building where mummified bodies were found in the state is a ritualist den.

The group explained that the building is a morgue, not a ritualist den as claimed by the police.

Recall that on Wednesday, August 17, it was announced that the Edo State Police Command uncovered the building which residents described as a ritualist den (read here). About 20 mummified bodies were recovered in the uncompleted building at Ekenhua road in Benin City.

However, following investigations, the leadership and members of Edo Civil Society Organisations, led by its Interim TEC Chairman, Leftist Austine Enabulele, released a statement to set the record straight.

They explained that the building is a morgue recently built to accommodate corpses evacuated from an old facility where the operator had been given a quit notice.

The group added that the fact the bodies found in the building had name tags should have been an indication that the place is not a ritualist den but a morgue.

The statement signed by Aliyu Unweni, Interim Public Relations Officer of the Edo Civil Society Organisations (EDOCSO), reads: “It has been over 24 hours that the news of a ritualists’ den was discovered in Benin City allegedly. It has flooded the social media and mainstream media spaces making it viral. The news became worrisome to us as Edo people have no history of ritualism or its likes. More troublesome to us is the fact that, it was the Police Public Relations Officer of Edo state command that led a media report on same which would have suggested that proper investigation would have been carried out to arrive at what was reported in the media.

“Immediately the news got to us, we quickly dispatched a team of investigators to unravel the true situation of the matter and report accordingly for a follow up. Below were the findings of the investigation team.

“1. The said building where the mummified corpses were found is not a ritualists’ den but a newly built morgue to house evacuated corpses from an old facility because the operator had been given a quit notice there.