By Onoja Baba, Nigeria
The Delta State Government has announced a significant breakthrough in the investigation into the sexual assaults on women during the recent Ozoro festival, with the arrest of eleven additional suspects by the state police command.
The arrests were disclosed in a statement posted on X on Saturday, following intensive work by the CP Special Assignment Team under the directive of Commissioner of Police CP Aina Adesola.
The statement identified some of the newly arrested individuals as Samson Atukpodo, Steven Ovie, Ugbevo Samson, Afoke Akporobaro, Evidence Oguname, and six others.
Police operatives analysed video evidence and gathered intelligence to track down the suspects in Oramudu Quarters, Ozoro, where the assaults reportedly took place during the annual traditional event on Thursday.
The state government emphasized that the acts of sexual violence were perpetrated by criminal elements exploiting the festival atmosphere and do not represent any legitimate cultural practice.
It reaffirmed the police command’s resolve to identify and prosecute all involved, while urging victims and witnesses to provide information with assurances of confidentiality and protection.
The latest arrests build on an earlier operation in which five persons, including the community head and chief organiser Chief Omorede Sunday, were detained.
The incidents, captured in viral videos showing women being molested and their clothes torn, have drawn widespread condemnation from the public, civil society groups, and political figures, including calls for swift justice and an end to gender-based violence disgui
sed as tradition.
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