Village chiefs arrested over Edo train attack, railway workers rescued

The Edo State Government has confirmed the arrest of two village chiefs over the January 7 attack at the Igueben train station.

Chris Nehikhare, Commissioner for Communication and Orientation gave the hint after the State Executive Council meeting in Benin on Wednesday.

Seven other suspects are in custody, while the two remaining passengers in captivity have been rescued by security agents.

The duo are staff of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).

“The success story is that five persons and two village chiefs have been arrested in connection with the incident and they are helping with investigations”, Nehikhare said.

On the Lassa fever outbreak, he said the Federal Government and its agencies had failed fund Edo in spite of all appeal for help.

”Over 50 persons have been infected with the Lassa fever. We have five per cent fatality rate which is very high compared to COVID-19.”

Nehikhare said Edo had reached out to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other international agencies for assistance.

He said letters were written to the Ministry of Health, National Centre Disease Control (NCDC) and other agencies “but unfortunately they refused to come to our aid