The Enugu State Police Command has confirmed the arrest and arraignment of a masquerade accused of attacking a woman in the Nsukka area of the state.
According to a statement issued on Thursday by the Command’s spokesman, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, the masquerade was stopped and apprehended on May 12, 2024, around 3.45 p.m. by operatives from the Command’s Anti-Cultism Tactical Squad’s Nsukka Sector.
According to Ndukwe, the masquerade, popularly known as Oriokpa, was sighted physically assaulting a female victim at Ugwuoye Junction, Nsukka, when the operatives arrested it.
Ndukwe stated that the masquerader, later identified as one Ugwuoke Ebube, aged 22, had been arraigned in court on Wednesday in Nsukka, even as he noted that the court later granted him bail.
Explaining, Ndukwe said that the investigation carried out by the command into the case suggested that the suspect was part of a group of masqueraders that similarly assaulted a female nurse riding a motorcycle, as captured in a viral video in April 2024.
“He was today, May 22, 2024, arraigned in the Nsukka Magistrate Court of Enugu State, Nigeria, but was granted bail by the court,” Ndukwe said.
The police spokesman, however, quoted the state Commissioner of Police, Kanayo Uzuegbu, to have condemned the act, while warning those intending to hide under the guise of culture-celebrating masquerades, to commit criminal acts of assaulting fellow citizens to desist forthwith.
He stressed that the command will henceforth not hesitate to bring anyone found wanting to book, just as in the case at hand.