The security challenges in the country assumed a bizarre, alarming dimension recently when the nation was jolted by the ugly tale of serial killing of young ladies in hotels.
In the last two months, no fewer than 15 ladies have been grisly murdered in cold blood in different hotels across the country, with nine incidents in Rivers State and six in other states.
The first of such unsettling homicide in Rivers State, according to reports, was recorded on August 1, following the murder of a 23-year old lady, Ms Maureen Ewuru, who was strangled to death in a hotel room at D/Line axis of Port Harcourt, the state capital.
Exactly two weeks later, precisely on August 15, another young lady in her 20s, identified as Jennifer Nwokocha from Umuekenyike Obirikom in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, fell prey to the predator who also strangled her to death in a hotel room along Woji Road, Government Residential Area (GRA) in Port Harcourt.
The unresolved murders continued with the body of another lady, believed to be in her 20s, also discovered in another hotel room at GRA, Port Harcourt by housekeepers who had gone to clean the hotel room.
Before Port Harcourt residents could come to terms with the reality that mystery serial killers were on the prowl, 15 lives had gone down. Since then, the new monster in the state has kept residents terrified and the security agencies in the state on their toes.
In all of these bizarre incidents, the modus operandi of the predators remained the same. Victims were never dispossessed of their personal belongings apart from ATM cards, nor were their body parts harvested as normally happens in the case of ritual killings. Instead, their remains were often abandoned in hotel rooms, with a piece of cloth tied around their necks, arms, waist and ankles, denoting ritualistic motive, according to reports.
This modus operandi has, however, continued to baffle residents and even security agencies who have appeared clueless about the motives of the predators.
In what could be a temporary relief, however, a 38-year old man from Buguma in Asari-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, Gracious David-West, was nabbed by the police in connection with the serial killings. The suspect who has confessed to the gruesome murder of eight young ladies in different hotels, was reportedly arrested along East-West Road on his way to Akwa Ibom State, following a tip-off by staff of one of the hotels where he had checked into with a young lady the previous night. He was reportedly captured by the CCTV cameras while leaving the hotel the following day without the lady who was later found dead with her legs tied in the hotel room.
With this new monster of serial killings rearing its ugly head, in addition to the menace of insurgency, kidnapping and armed banditry that has already stretched the capacity of the nation’s security agencies, it appears the country is tipping towards a dangerous cliff. And unless it is urgently nipped in the bud, the monster may assume a behemoth that may be difficult to tame.
The Tide condemns in strong terms this new unsavoury development in Rivers State and, therefore, calls on all people of goodwill to rise to the occasion and join forces with the security agencies to put an end to this horrendous act of savagery by giving useful information that could lead to the arrest of criminal elements in the state.
Although the Rivers State Police Command has risen to the occasion by arresting a predator, we believe it is not yet Uhuru. We say this because there might be other predators in various hideouts across the state, waiting to unleash terror on innocent citizens.
One quick way of checking heinous crimes in hotels is the installation of CCTV cameras in all the hotels, guest houses and motels across the state as directed by the State Commissioner of Police, Mustapha Dandaura.
We urge the police to adhere strictly to the implementation of this directive and mete out necessary sanctions to defaulters.
But more wholistically, we urge the police to launch a thorough investigation into the serial killings with a view to not only tracking down other perpetrators of the crime but also unravelling the motives behind their actions.
The Tide also believes that the current wave of crime in the state calls for serious vigilance and re-orientation of citizens, especially young women, most of whom have lost their moral values.
We challenge parents, guardians, schools and religious organisations to begin to educate the young female folk on the need to play down on materialism to avoid being lured into the arms of vicious ritual or serial killers.
History will not forgive us if we continue to watch the lives of our young women ebb in the hands of vicious serial killers.