According to Daily Trust,
reports that early this year, a female corpse was found on a refuse dump around
Iorapuu Adai Street at Nyiman Hudco Quarters of Makurdi metropolis.
The woman, whose identity
remains unknown, was wrapped in hotel bed-sheets, her legs tied and body
stuffed into a nylon sack and dumped at the refuse site. There were claims that
several of her organs were removed.
Residents had described the
scene as a nightmare turned real, while other onlookers expressed outrage as
they rained curses on the perpetrators of the act, but none of them could
identify the dead young woman. They appealed to security operatives to unravel the
mystery behind the killing.
Shortly after that, another
female body was discovered beneath the old dual railway road bridge with her
private parts missing.
SP Catherine Anene, the
spokeswoman of the police in Benue confirmed the incident, while assuring the
public that investigations were ongoing.
Weekend Trust reports that the
above incidents are just a tip of the iceberg as more cases have emerged,
injecting heightened fear in the state capital.
A few days ago, a
non-governmental organisation known as 24 Hours Road Accident Victims Support
Initiative (TRAVSI) in Benue State, raised the alarm over the discovery of a
new method being used by criminal elements to harvest body parts from
unsuspecting victims.
The founder and chief executive
officer of TRAVSI, Gaddafi Asemanya, raised the alarm during the maiden
stakeholders’ town hall meeting in Makurdi, organised by the Federal Road Safety
Corps (FRSC) in the state.
He said the criminal elements
were in the habit of using flashy cars to hit unsuspecting road users who were
either walking or riding on motorbikes along the roads, and under the pretext
of conveying the victims to hospitals for medical attention, would divert them
to undisclosed locations, where they would harvest their body parts and in the
end, dump their bodies elsewhere.
Asemanya cited recent cases
involving mostly women and saying the victims were brought into Makurdi from
Abuja or conveyed from the road between Makurdi and Abuja, adding that in some
instances, the victims were kidnapped.
He said, “We have uncovered a
new method used by criminal elements to target their victims and harvest their
sensitive organs. These criminal elements would stage an accident by hitting
young men who are either riding on bike or walking on foot, and under the
pretence that they are taking them to hospital to access medical care, will
divert them to an undisclosed place, where they will harvest their sensitive
organs.
“Their victims are mostly
women. After harvesting these organs from their hotels or hideouts, they will
dispose the bodies under the bridge or any dumpsite. The latest one was dumped
in Achusa village of Makurdi Local Government Area with the blanket of a hotel.
Another one was dumped at a stream in Welfare Quarters, while another young
girl whose legs were broken while her body parts were harvested was also seen
in another part of Makurdi. Her body showed that a vehicle hit her on the leg.
The TRAVSI drew the attention of security agencies to it.
“Another of such case involved
one Godwin Obite, who was kidnapped in Abuja by organ harvesters and brought to
Makurdi. We rescued him and he spent 51 days in the Benue State University
Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) before he was discharged.
“He was lucky to have been
discarded by his kidnappers after they sighted a security presence in Makurdi
at the eve of the #endbadgovernance protest, which frightened them into
abandoning their plan. Initially left to die, Obite spent nearly 20 days in the
hospital before regaining consciousness”.
He added, “During the
intervention, TRAVSI secured a court order to access his account details, then
traced his family to Abuja. We were able to reunite him with his brother, a
retired army officer in Abuja, who had raised him from a young age.”
Apart from Obite, Asemanya
explained that victims also included those offered free ride by the roadside.
He expressed worry that victims did not live to tell their stories, adding that
their relatives might still looking for them.
He also recounted how his team
rescued a young woman, who, out of bravery jumped down from a vehicle after
realising that she had been trapped by suspected organ harvesters.
The TRAVSI team rushed her to a
hospital, where she received treatment before she was safely returned to her
home in Yelewata, a rural town in Benue near the Nasarawa State border, along
the Makurdi-Lafia road.
Asemanya said, “She was drugged
from Yaman Park in Makurdi by some persons who put substances in her drink.
Luckily, she was a bit conscious at the time they bundled her into a waiting
vehicle, and while in motion, she gathered strength to jump out of the vehicle
after sensing a mischief.
“It was about 2am that I was
called for the rescue operation and we took her to hospital, rehabilitated her
after treatment before releasing her to reunite with her family in Yelewata
community.”
The TRAVSI founder called on
security agencies to beam their searchlight on the growing threat in order to
save the lives of innocent people across the country.
Responding, the Assistant Zonal
Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), RS4HQ, Yusuf Haruna
Mcilt, warned people around accident scenes to be vigilant and to stop unknown
persons from conveying victims to hospital.
Mcilt added that more awareness
would be created with the correct emergency number to call for FRSC
intervention wherever or whenever an accident occurs. He stressed that corps on
duty would always take accident victims to the nearest known or
government-owned hospitals rather than unknown medical centres.
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