Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo has warned that the trial, conviction and execution of kidnappers in the state would be swiftly done within two weeks to stem the activities of the undesirable elements in the state.

To achieve the feat, Governor Okpebholo said that he would pursue the setting up of a special court for their trials, where all proceedings would be by a two-week time frame, and the execution warrants be signed without delay and the public execution carried out at the Ring Road, the nerve centre of Benin City, the state capital.

“We are going to set up a special court to prosecute kidnappers and cultists. Within two weeks, the court is done with the proceedings. I will sign your execution. We will take you to Ring Road roundabout so that Edo people can watch. I will have no regret about it. Don’t take my simplicity for granted.” Okpebholo warned.

The governor gave the warning on Thursday at the headquarters of the Edo State Police Command, when the police paraded suspected kidnappers including those involved in last Sunday’s kidnap of a woman at the popular elite market, the Vegetable Market off Airport Road, Benin City.

Impressed by the way the police arrested all the suspects involved in the kidnap of the woman, Governor Okpebholo announced a N10 million reward for the gallantry displayed by the policemen who carried out the arrest.

Also paraded by the Edo Police Command alongside the Vegetable Market kidnappers were suspected kidnappers operating along the Benin – Lagos Highway, the woman who faked her kidnap to extort money from family members among others.

Okpebholo said that his administration, in collaboration with security agencies, would continue to make the state uncomfortable for kidnappers and cultists.

“Something very terrible happened on Sunday and I called the Commissioner of Police and I told him that whoever committed that crime of kidnapping inside Benin City must be arrested.

“Within 24 hours, those guys were caught. The money with which they pretended they wanted to pay ransom was also recovered which was used to trace them and in the process, there was an exchange of gunfire and one of them was killed, two are still at large and one is here.

“You can see that the police are working, the Army is working, the DSS are working.” Okpebholo eulogize.

Meanwhile, the Edi Police Command has denied the rumours that there was an invasion of some schools in the Sabongida Ora, the headquarters of Owan West Local Government Area of the state.

Edo State Commissioner of Police, Monday Agbonika, who corroborated Governor Okpebholo on efforts to check crime in the state, warned against the spread of fake news which led to the panic relating to the alleged invasion of schools by suspected kidnappers.

Agbonika said such acts and self-kidnapping, which he said was becoming an issue in the state, attracted grave legal implications.

“Let me use this opportunity to warn the public that we have been having very serious concerns about fake news. Just this morning, there were information that some schools were being attacked in different parts of the state.

“And when we conducted our enquiries, we found out that they were all fake news even though before then proactively we have deployed men to those areas and that was why we were able to find out very quickly that the information was not correct. It got to a point that parents were going to withdraw their children from these schools, people must desist from this.

“The issue of self-kidnapping is also rearing its ugly head in the state and I want to warn members of the public that these are crimes that are punishable by the law, they must cross check their information before they repost because these information will not go viral if they are not reposted by others.” Agbonika warned. (Nigerian Tribune)

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