The Delta State Police Command, while dismissing claims that the controversial Alue-Do festival in Ozoro was a “rape festival”, has said that 16 suspects have been arrested so far. The Command stated that no victim has officially reported rape in connection with the incident.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) in the state, Bright Edafe, made this known yesterday during an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast show, The Morning Brief.

He said: “It is important to state clearly that among the four girls interviewed yesterday, no one, not one of them, said they were raped. Up till this very moment, we have not had any official reports that anybody was raped,” he said.

Edafe stressed that investigations are guided strictly by evidence and witness accounts, explaining that the festival, being a traditional rite, was not intended to promote sexual violence.

“It was not a rape festival. It was a festival organised by a chief priest to pray for barren women seeking the fruit of the womb. That was the intention.

“The law does not work on emotions; the law works on available evidence and statements of witnesses. For the fact that we have not had anybody say she was raped, and the evidence does not show that anybody was raped; sexual assault is what we would be investigating,” Edafe said.

The Delta State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Ekemejoro Ohwovoriole, yesterday, led a high-level delegation to the State Police Headquarters in Asaba, where he met with the Commissioner of Police, CP Aina Adesola, to firm up plans for the prosecution of suspects already arrested in connection with the incident.

Ohwovoriole, during the visit, commended the police for their “swift response” in restoring calm after the attacks, while assuring that the state government would provide the legal backing necessary to ensure diligent prosecution of offenders.

MEANWHILE, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chukwudi Enebeli, has strongly condemned the reported cases of multiple rape incidents in Ozoro, Delta State, describing the acts as barbaric, criminal and a gross misrepresentation of the values Delta people are known for.

In his reaction to the accounts of women allegedly sexually assaulted and molested in public recently, Enebeli said the incidents, reportedly carried out under the guise of tradition or communal activities, are “not merely disturbing but completely unacceptable.”

The senior lawyer stressed that there is no cultural, social or traditional justification for sexual violence, warning that any attempt to rationalise such acts as part of a festival or local custom is both dangerous and misleading.

“Such conduct is condemnable in the strongest terms and does not represent what Deltans ordinarily stand for. This can never be described as culture; it is outright criminality,” he said.

Enebeli noted that beyond the immediate physical harm, sexual violence leaves deep psychological scars on victims and their families, while also eroding the moral fabric of society.

He, therefore, called on the Police and the Delta state government to take swift, decisive and transparent action by launching a thorough investigation into the in cidents and ensuring that all perpetrators are brought to justice.