By Obeten Godfrey
As authorities struggle to put the continued alleged penis snatching making rounds in Calabar, Cross River State capital in check, residents are fast becoming more curious to get evidence of the scary rumor amidst widespread doubts about the act.
The unfortunate rumor, which no one has been able to give substantial proof of, has exposed some residents to alleged assaults, wrong information, and false alarms. The rumors alleged that male reproductive organs are snatched through handshakes, touching, or subtle body contact.
In this report, one of the survivors Mr. Emmanuel Brown, a 32-year-old resident of Calabar, recounts how he suffered ‘malicious assault and harassment’ at the hands of strangers after being falsely accused of snatching the male genital organ of another man.
Mr. Brown, an indigene of Akwa Ibom State, who runs a restaurant in the old Marian area of Calabar, explained that he was detained by the Police for a night at the Atakpa Police station following the incident.
Sharing his ordeal to CrossRiverWatch, the victim said on the 3rd of September 2023, he boarded a taxi to Lagos Street to buy fresh fish for his restaurant business, for the new week, and after getting off the bus, a young man ran up to him, held his clothes and accused him of stealing his manhood.
He said the bizarre accusation left him bewildered, as he vehemently denied any wrongdoing, having never met the accuser before.
According to him, altercations occurred and the situation escalated with the stranger’s accomplices joining in and forming an angry mob. He said the timely intervention of some traders and other passersby saved the situation at the scene where they had gathered to lynch him.
“It was on Sunday 3rd of this month, I took a bus and stopped at Atakpa so that I could just go straight to Lagos Street to get fresh fish against Monday. As I was going towards the roundabout, after I landed on the bus, a young man I don’t know ran from behind and held my clothes and was saying “Give me my penis, you collected my penis. I was so surprised because I didn’t know him from Adam. He kept saying “Give me my manhood…” Before you know several other guys, I mean guys that were with him surrounded me, before you know people that were around there close to the shopping center at Watt started ransacking me putting hands in my pocket. They removed my phone, the money I would have used to buy the fish, and the umbrella because the weather was so cloudy I carried the umbrella in case there was rainfall, they collected everything at that point.”
He continued: “The crowd was so much and people were videoing it, if not for one guy that came to rescue me that God sent. I was shouting ‘I don’t know what you’re saying please help me’. They were beating me and shouting ‘Give him his manhood’. Those guys that were with him now suddenly brought one man, and the man said you people should stop this, this guy is innocent, since it’s like this let us go to the police station which is very close to here Atakpa Police station.
“We went to the police station and the man now said nobody should touch me again. The policeman that was on duty, Inspector James called us to interview him, I told him I was a restaurant businessman. He asked the other guy what he does for a living and he said he does not do anything.
“I told him my side of the story and he asked the guy what happened, he said I’ve collected his manhood, the man asked is the manhood still with you? Do you still have it? He said I have it but it’s not rising, the man asked him what you are saying is it that you don’t have manhood or it’s not rising? What did you say before? He was still confused, the man said you’re very stupid and now asked us to go and wait inside,” Brown narrated.
Detention
Mr. Brown further stated that he was detained for a night at the Atakpa police station where they had gone to report the matter, noting that his mobile phone was not available to enable him to place a call to friends or loved ones about the matter, as it got missing while he had the altercation with the unidentified hoodlums.
“We went in there and the officer collected my number, and address, and also collected his number and asked him to go and come back the next day which was on Monday by 7 am, maybe before then it will rise, that it was fear that has caused his manhood not to rise. He wonders why somebody will be working and his manhood will be rising.
“I was detained for that night because I had no means to contact anyone since my phone and money had been taken. This was deeply unfair, and I did not know why I was being held. It’s only by the grace of God that I survived the night. The reason was that there was nobody to come, I did not have anybody to call since they had collected my phone and my money. I do not have anybody’s number, I had to sleep till the next day, which is very bad for what I don’t know, for what I do not have any knowledge about.”
When asked about the complaint, Brown further narrated that: “Right from that day, that Sunday I saw him, on Monday I came to the police station, and I asked and they said he had not come. The Police said I should come again on Wednesday, and on Wednesday, they said he had not come. They said I should come again next week on Wednesday, the next Wednesday I came again they said he had not come, up till that moment, up till now he has not shown up and his number is not going.
“This has shown that they were using this medium to rob me, up till now people are now looking for him even the Policeman said that whenever he sees him (the complainant) he’s going to arrest him and that he’s going to call me since he has my number. I mean the policeman is going to call me for him to pay for those things that he robbed me of.
“So this is what has happened and I want to let the whole world know that I was very innocent, several people know me because of my restaurant business. I’m somehow popular, go to Old Marian or Old Ikang. People know me very well, they call me Oga Emma. I grew up in that area so many people that came there were very angry, they said how they wished they could see the person.
“I’m not putting this out to clear myself, I was not involved in this kind of issue. I will never, I am a servant of God, I’m a Christian, and I can never do it. I am now making the world know, to counter and debunk the previous message that it is not true. Gangsters are now using this medium to rob people of their resources. It’s only God that will judge, I just leave everything to God.
“Please take note and beware, when you walk in the road beware there are several hoodlums that are on the way trying to use this medium, using it to rob people, there’s no real record of collecting manhood, all of them are fake. I am telling the world even if they are real I have not seen them. According to what the DPO said when he came to the police station and saw us, he told the man you people are now using this thing to kill innocent people.
Cross River State Government Debunks Manhood Snatching
The Cross River State Government had earlier in a statement issued by its Commissioner for Information, Erasmus Ekpang debunked the rumor saying claims of the disappearance of male genital organs were not true.
The state government’s position was corroborated by the Cross River State Police Command Police Public Relations Officer, SP Irene Ugbo, who said such claims were frivolous and were the handiwork of mischief makers and called on members of the public to go about their businesses without fear, warning that anyone found spreading such “fake news” will be death with.
Over fifteen cases were said to have taken place in virtually all parts of the town with some organs being restored to the victims by the perpetrators while some were said not to have been restored.