Two suspected cultists have been arrested in connection with the recent macheting of the right hand of a ‘Batch A’ female member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Folakemi Akinbode, at Obunagha community of Yenagoa Local Government area of Bayelsa State.
The suspects, now in security custody, were said to have confessed that they attacked and severed Akinbode’s right hand because she refused to hand over to them an unspecified amount of cash and other valuables like handset in her handbag.
Security sources told Daily Independent that the two suspects, identified as Ebi Jato and Weriye Aluwa, were arrested on Wednesday in the neighbouring Koroama community while trying to sell Akinbode’s mobile handset.
It was gathered that their arrest was effected by the Bayelsa State Special Security Task Force code named ‘Operation Doo Akpor.’
The bandits, who had been trailing 26-year-old Akinbode, macheted her right hand on Monday night at the entrance of the Obunagha Corpers’ Lodge at about 8.30 p.m., as she returned from work.
She is a graduate of nursing from the Madonna University, Elele Campus, Rivers State, and doing her primary national assignment at the Niger Delta Teaching Hospital (NDUTH), Okolobiri, near Obunagha.
She had struggled with them as they attempted to snatch her handbag resulting in the macheting of her right arm.
The suspects were said to have narrated in their confession that Akinbode was in charge of a huge amount of money used by the NDUTH to pay blood donors at the Blood Bank section of the hospital on the night of the attack.
“They (the suspects) claimed that all they wanted from her was the remaining money she kept in her bag after the payments in the afternoon. But when she struggled and identified one of them, they attacked her with their machete,” a source said on Thursday.
He said their arrest was made possible by the youths of the area who teamed up to fish them out.
Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for Bayelsa State, Alex Akhighe, confirmed the arrest of Jato and Aluwa.
Paramount ruler of Obunagha community, Godgive Apoh, also confirmed the arrest of the suspects, adding that the community’s Youth Vigilante Association assisted greatly in the achievement.
