The Senate yesterday in Abuja, mandated its Committees on Police Affairs and Security and Intelligence to investigate the sudden appearance of strange corpses floating in the Ezu River of Anambra State.

It took this decision following a debate on the motion sponsored by Senator Andy Uba (PDP-Anambra), concerning the issue.

Uba in his lead debate, disclosed that on January19, some villagers of Amansea Community of Anambra State found 30 dead bodies, mostly males, floating on the Ezu River.

He added that between January 23 and January 24, four more dead bodies were discovered on the River.

The lawmaker expressed concern that up till date, no explanation had been given as to the possible origin of the corpses.

He also expressed worry that the Ezu River, which was the only source of water for domestic and other uses for the people of five communities of the state, had been contaminated.

According to him, the autopsy ordered by the Anambra and Enugu governments had yielded no result.

He, however, observed that the incident could be an extra-judicial killing capable of giving the nation a bad image.

Senator Ifeanyi Okowa (PDP-Delta) in his contribution blamed the poor security situation in the country for the sudden development.

He said it was very disturbing that more than 30 bodies, mostly men had been found on a river and no security agency could explain what had happened.

“If our security system is working well, we would have been able to know exactly what this is all about.

“For the bodies to have started decomposing, it means they must have stayed in water for at least seven days.”

He said that seven days would have been enough for security agencies to get information on the incident.

The senator expressed concern that the people of the affected communities had to resort to getting water from tankers to accomplish their chores.

Okowa advised that qualified pathologists be engaged to find solution to what would have happened and unravel the mystery.

The Deputy Senate Leader, Abdul Ningi (PDP-Bauchi), also described the situation as a tragedy of monumental proportion.

“If this happens in another country, that country would be at a standstill, but here in Nigeria, people seem so unconcerned.

“Are we saying we are too many in this country and then decide to systematically kill some people to reduce our number?” Ningi asked.

Senate President David Mark said that it was a thing of great worry for 30 dead bodies to be found in one community and yet there was no report of a missing person.

“If the police is inefficient, how about the families or the communities? The question is where did these bodies come from?’’

He urged the senators to enquire from their constituents if there were any missing persons in their senatorial districts.

Mark also appealed to the committees to work very fast on the investigation and bring back their report at the earliest time possible.