Over eight killed in River’s cult clashes
Memoye Oghu, Port Harcourt
More than eight persons are feared dead over the weekend as suspected rival cult gangs clashed in two communities in two Local Government Areas of Rivers state respectively.
Daily Times correspondent gathered that in the wee hours of last Sunday, between the hours of 3 and 4am, one cult gang in Mgbudohia community in Rumuolumeni town in Obio/Akpor LGA of the state, ransacked the community, going from house to house in search of rival cult members and slaughtering them.
Our source, who refused his name on print for security reasons and who could not also disclose name of the attacking cult group however said that at end of their operations, eight persons were feared dead while the number of wounded was still not certain as at the time of this report.
However, chairman of the Community Development Committee (CDC), Sunny Odum reportedly appealed to fleeing residents of the community to remain calm as security operatives have taken control of the situation.
“In situations like this, people will panic. But I’m appealing to residents to remain calm and go about their normal businesses as security agencies have been drafted to the area,” he appealed.
Nevertheless, many residents were fleeing the community when our correspondent visited the area on Monday morning for fear of reprisal attack by the rival cult group.
Similarly, on the same Sunday, another cult group went berserk in Rumuche town in Emohua LGA of the state, killing an unspecified number of persons suspected to be members of a rival cult group.
Unconfirmed sources named Big Joe and Bright Junior as two persons killed in the Rumuche, Emohua clashes but the details as to the reasons for the clashes were yet to be known.
The Spokesman of the State Police Command, DSP Nnamdi Omoni could not confirm the official number of deaths recorded in both incidents and the number of arrest made so far by the Police as his mobile line couldn’t go through when contacted.
He was also yet to respond to our SMS inquiry on the matter forwarded to his mobile line.
