The Edo State Government on Thursday said between January and July 2026, over 70 cases of defilement were recorded, with over 50 per cent of such cases perpetrated by fathers of the minors.

The state Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Eugenia Abdallah, disclosed this during the bi-monthly press conference organised by the state Ministry of Information and Strategy.

The commissioner, flanked by Kassim Afegbua, Commissioner, Ministry of Information and Strategy, and the Managing Director, Edo State Geographic Information Service, Innocent Bello, disclosed that the minors defiled by their fathers were between the ages of two and 10 years.

She said, “Mostly, 50 per cent are abused by their own fathers, with the victims ranging from two to 10 years. For instance, there is a little girl currently in our custody who was impregnated by her father. She is just 14 years old and is eight months pregnant as we speak. The case was reported to us by a neighbour.

“When we asked her about her father, she told us that she had lost her father and pleaded with us not to have him arrested. Meanwhile, she is the only person who can tell us where her father is.”

The commissioner, however, expressed the state government’s commitment to ensuring that vulnerable citizens are not merely identified but protected, adding that survivors are not merely heard but supported.

She stated, “The victims are not merely trained but provided opportunities for economic advancement; and social-protection programmes increasingly produce measurable outcomes.”

Also speaking on steps taken by the state government to protect residents of the state, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy reiterated the government’s ban on the movement of motorcycles in the Benin metropolis, adding that it’s for security reasons.

He added, “We are not pretending about it. The reason why this was done was purely for security reasons. And the kind of reports we get daily have become a security concern to us.

“People use Okada (motorcycles) to kidnap people, to commit robbery. They carry their passengers, they take them to a lonely place and dispossess them of their belongings.”

On his part, the Managing Director, EdoGIS, while giving reasons for the delay in the release of land documents to applicants, said, “What is responsible for most of the delay in land document processing is the detection of fake application documents in many cases, and that includes survey plans, tax clearance, fake ID and so on.”

Source: punchng.com

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The Benue State Police Command have arrested some suspects in connection with the theft of a newborn baby in the Gboko area of the state.

The command’s spokesperson, Peter Aondongu, disclosed this while giving an update on the incident in a telephone interview on Thursday, as he noted that the baby had been recovered.

“I can confirm to you that some suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft of a newborn baby in Gboko on Tuesday.

“Some of the suspects were earlier transferred to the state headquarters in Makurdi while other suspects are in police custody at Gboko division right now,” the PPRO said.

The baby, according to sources, was allegedly stolen from his mother in the hospital a few hours after he was delivered on Tuesday.

The incident reportedly attracted family members, sympathisers and other concerned persons to the hospital, creating tension within and around the facility. It was also gathered that security operatives were subsequently deployed to the healthcare centre to prevent the breakdown of law and order.

An eyewitness who craved anonymity told journalists on Wednesday that the alleged thief had been following the baby’s mother disguised as a nurse working in the hospital. According to the eyewitness, the baby was said not to be responding at the time he was born, which prompted the nurse to move the mother and the baby to a ward for further care.

The eyewitness alleged that shortly after they were moved to the ward, a woman, who camouflaged as a nurse, approached the mother and asked to examine the baby again.

Believing that the woman was a nurse working in the hospital, the mother obliged and handed the baby over to the strange nurse, who was said to have taken the baby towards the labour room. She told the baby’s grandmother, who was in the hospital, to step aside, as she assured that everything was under control.

It was later that they discovered that the newborn baby was missing.

“Immediately after the baby was born, the infant did not cry as expected. The nurse on duty reportedly intervened, and the newborn eventually responded normally.

“Thereafter, both the mother and the baby were taken to a ward. Not long after, an alleged child trafficker approached the mother of the newborn under the pretence of being one of the nurses.

“The suspect claimed they wanted to check the baby once again. The trafficker then took the baby from the mother and headed toward the labour room.

“Sensing something amiss, the mother-in-law who had been with her daughter-in-law followed and stood at the labour room’s entrance, but she was instructed to step back, with assurances that everything would be fine; so she complied. Shortly afterwards, the strange woman disappeared with the newborn baby,” the witness stated.

It was gathered that while searching for the baby, the nurses on duty reportedly denied taking the baby from the ward and also said the woman who allegedly presented herself as a nurse was not a member of their team.

Source: punchng.com

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