The Delta State Police Command has dismissed claims that the controversial Alue-Do festival in Ozoro was a \u201crape festival,\u201d stating that no victim has officially reported rape in connection with the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Bright Edafe, made this known on Monday during an interview on The Morning Brief<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is important to state clearly that among the four girls interviewed yesterday, not one of them said they were raped. Up till this very moment, we have not had any official report that anybody was raped,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe law does not work on emotions; it works on available evidence and witness statements. For the fact that we have not had any witness who says, \u2018I was raped,\u2019 and the evidence does not show that anybody was raped, sexual assault is what we would be investigating,\u201d Edafe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The PRO also revealed that 16 suspects have been arrested so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter the initial arrests, the chief priest, who happens to be the head of the community, was arrested alongside four others. Following video analysis, additional individuals were identified and arrested, bringing the number to 11 more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis brings the total number of suspects currently in custody to 16. They have been transferred to the State Command Headquarters to be duly investigated by the Deputy Commissioner (DC), State CID,\u201d Edafe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The spokesperson added that the police visited Ozoro and the Oramudu community to assess the situation and met with four victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He stated that the force assured them that the state government would cover their medical needs, compensate for lost property and money, and provide psychological support to aid their recovery from the trauma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, he noted that due process was not followed in organising the event, as key authorities were not informed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor reasons best known to them, the traditional ruler of the Ozoro Kingdom was not informed, the students\u2019 union was not informed, and the school management was not informed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey also did not inform the police. That is why the chief priest is presently in our custody, because his negligence led to this incident and the sexual assault of these innocent girls,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the police spokesperson, the festival is said to occur \u201conce every three or four years, and this is the first time such an incident has been recorded in Delta State.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Edafe also urged parents and guardians to pay closer attention to their children, noting that safeguarding should not be limited to the girl child alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The controversy surrounding the festival sparked national outrage after viral videos showed mobs of men harassing and assaulting women in broad daylight, with some social media users describing the event as a \u201crape festival.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Community leaders, however, maintain that the festival was hijacked by hoodlums who exploited the gathering to perpetrate criminal acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Authorities have since taken action, with the police confirming the arrests of suspects, including the community head and chief organiser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Delta State Government has also condemned the incident, stressing that cultural practices cannot excuse criminal behaviour. The Alue-Do festival has since been banned, while the case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the Ozoro Kingdom Palace has condemned acts of violence, harassment, and intimidation against women linked to the festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The palace described the harassment of women during the event as \u201cunacceptable\u201d and \u201ccontrary to the kingdom\u2019s values.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also distanced itself from claims circulating on social media that such actions were sanctioned, describing them as false and potentially harmful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While acknowledging the cultural significance of the Alue-Do festival as a fertility rite, the palace emphasised that tradition must never be used to justify abuse or misconduct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Delta State Police Command has dismissed claims that the controversial Alue-Do festival in Ozoro was a \u201crape festival,\u201d stating that no victim has officially reported rape in connection with the incident. The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Bright Edafe, made this known on Monday during an interview on The Morning Brief. \u201cIt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":96586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-96585","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96585"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96587,"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96585\/revisions\/96587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/96586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kokocurrent.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}