Lorine Emenike
Police Command in Rivers State has said its personnel are not relenting in their quest to end the menace of serial killings in the state.
This is as the Rotary club in the State and a coalition of about 77 gender-based organizations including members of the Nigerian Union of women journalists, female lawyers, female doctors, held a peaceful protest to demand an end to the serial killing of women especially in hotels.
Mustapha Dandaura, the Commissioner of Police, while addressing the agitated groups at the command’s headquarters, Moscow road in Port Harcourt, said that another serial killer was arrested on Wednesday morning by men of the Rumuokoro police command.
He said that the Rumuokoro Police DPO who led the arrest at about 2.00 am on Wednesday morning got a distress call from Nsirim Hotel at Rumuokoro when the victim was about being strangled with a towel.
The CP said that the culprit, a middle-aged man, who took her to the hotel tried strangling her while she was sleeping, adding that her screaming attracted the hoteliers who in turn alerted the men of Rumuokoro police station who came and forced their way into the room and rescued the girl.
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The CP said, he has interrogated the suspect and he is awaiting trial.
The police boss said the public misquoted him by alleging that he tagged the women killed in the hotels as prostitutes.
The CP said up till now, no one has come to claim the corpse of the murdered victims who were all kept in mortuaries.
He advised women not to follow unknown men to hotels or unknown places, adding that he suspects the serial killers to be members of cult groups.
The chief convener of the protest, Rita Marley Nkembueze, the president of Rotary Club of Port Harcourt, said that every woman has the right to life, therefore the recent incessant killing of women especially in hotels should be put to an end.
Rita Marley also demanded an apology from the Rivers state police command for undermining victims of the serial murders.
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Hon. Tammy Danagogo while addressing the agitated groups at government house said that the state government is appalled by the serial killing of women in hotels, stressing that governor Wike is working round the clock with state stakeholders, especially the men of the state police to bring the menace to an end.
The SSG added that the security of women, both young and old, is a major concern to the governor Wike-led administration.
