SAN FRANCISCO, September 26, (THEWILL) – Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State has declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Kokori, the hometown of notorious kidnap kingpin and armed robber, Kelvin Prosper Oniara, who was on Wednesday arrested in his hotel room in Port-Harcourt, River State.
The governor also announced the arrest of a juju priest, Michael Omonigho, who allegedly made charms for the criminal who is now in the custody of the state security services (SSS).
Addressing newsmen on Thursday at Government House Annex Warri, Governor Uduaghan said that there is relative peace now in Kokori after the deployment of troops to secure the community.
He however said the curfew is to enable a peaceful atmosphere in the troubled community located in Ethiope East Local Government Area of the State.
The governor spoke shortly after a security meeting.
“Security operatives are in Kokori to fish out the criminals, we are advising that people should be careful in moving around and within Kokori itself, nobody should be out once it is 6pm,”the governor said.
Uduaghan further asserted that Kelvin was involved in high profile kidnapping and armed robbery cases across country, adding that he had evaded arrest for months before he was arrested two days ago in Port-Harcourt.
He also assured multinational oil companies in Urhobo land and the entire state not to be threatened by the earlier threat made by the suspect, assuring that all members of his gang would be arrested and so there was no need to panic.
He also dismissed claims that there was a shoot-out between security operatives and members of Kelvin’s gang at Kokori, stating that the security men have been civil enough in handling the affairs while carrying out their actions based on intelligence reports.
He said that several persons were arrested in the community believed to be linked to Kelvin, adding that one person was killed during the operation.
“A lot of arrests have been made, there was no shoot-out between security men and the criminals, they don’t have the capacity to have a shoot-out with Soldiers,” the governor said.
