Police save woman from mob in Rivers State

Operatives of the Azikiwe Police Division in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, have saved a woman named Maria Kobara from a mob. She was accused of stealing and abducting a 12-year-old girl along Owo Street in Mile 2, Diobu, Port Harcourt.

An eyewitness, Mr. Nelson Ogiriya, talked to our reporter. He saw a crowd gathered on Owo Street and went to find out what was going on.

Ogiriya said that if the police had not come quickly that day (Saturday, June 13), the woman would have been killed by the mob.

He explained, "As I was passing, I saw a crowd on Owo Street, so I tried to find out what was happening. I discovered that a woman was taking a 12-year-old girl to church when another woman stopped her and asked who the child was to her."

"The woman explained that the girl’s mother had asked her to take the child to a church on Eagle Island. However, the woman who stopped them called the child’s father. He then contacted his wife to confirm if she had given their daughter to anyone to take to church."

"The mother confirmed that she had indeed sent the child with the woman. But before the confirmation came, some people had already started beating her and accusing her of stealing the child. It was during the assault that the police arrived and took everyone involved to the station."

When we reached out, the spokesperson of the Rivers State Police Command, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed that police officers from the Azikiwe Police Division rescued the woman from the mob.

The police spokesperson said early investigations showed that a relative of the father of the 12-year-old girl raised an alarm. This drew the attention of passers-by and residents to the scene.

"The mob ignored all explanations made by the woman that she knew the child’s mother and that the mother was aware of their movement. The woman was being physically attacked by the mob, who accused her of trying to steal the child when our officers arrived and saved her."

"At the station, the child’s mother confirmed that the woman was not a child thief as suspected. Instead, she was on her way to clean a branch of their church on Eagle Island in Port Harcourt when she was stopped and falsely accused," the police spokesperson stated.

She encouraged residents to report suspected incidents to the police instead of taking the law into their own hands.

The police spokesperson warned against mob action and jungle justice. She stressed that such acts would not be accepted under any circumstances by the command.

She added that anyone or group involved in such unlawful acts would face the full force of the law.