Police Repel Cultists’ Attack On Rivers School

The timely intervention by men of the Nigeria Police Force in Rivers State restored normalcy in Government Secondary School, Onne, in what could be described as another act of violence by a group of cultists who invaded the school with guns and machetes.
The incident, which took place yesterday when the students were in their classrooms, was coming a few days after the killing of a local government councilor in Port Harcourt and the declaration of war against cultists by the Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr Johnson Tunde Ogunsakin.
According to an eye witness, over 30 cultists wearing masks and all black outfit, and  carrying weapons including local pistols and machetes, attacked students causing pandemonium as students and teachers ran helter skater.
According to our source, a call put through to emergency police line saved the situation as the police immediately responded with deployment of five patrol vans of policemen as well as plain cloth operatives to the school.
Narrating his experience, a teacher (name withheld) said the police swooped on the invaders who fled into the bush, adding that the cultists had already attacked and injured an SS3 student and were chasing a male teacher before the police arrived.
He particularly lauded the Police Commissioner, Mr Ogunsakin for acting swiftly to the call, stating that as soon as the call for help was sent, a voice responded, “ my men will be there in a few seconds” and actually they arrived shortly afterwards.
The witness also commended members of the Eleme and Onne security council and the Eleme youth council as a whole who also arrived the scene, and combed the bush for the fleeing  cultists.
He appealed to the Rivers State Government to urgently erect a perimeter fence to protect the students and teachers from hoodlums, noting that the school, which has both UBE junior and senior secondary sections, has a population of more than 1,000 students, including indigenes and non-indigenes that deserved to learn in a safe and conducive environment.
Efforts to reach the state Police Commissioner, Mr Ogunsakin were not successful.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Ahmad Muhammad could also not be reached as he is said to indisposed.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Police Command says it has declared war against various cult groups operating in the state.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Johnson Tunde Ogunsakin disclosed this in an interview with The Tide in his office in Port Harcourt, yesterday while reacting to the killing of a councillor from Akuku-Toru Local Government Area, Mr Sotonye Melford Georgewill by cultists in Port Harcourt, last Sunday.
Ogunsakin stated that the police would not allow cult groups to operate freely and unleash mayhem on innocent citizens of the state.
He warned that the police would arrest any person identified as a member of any cult group or sponsoring any cult group in the state.
The state commissioner of police while answering question on whether any arrest has been made in connection with the murder of the AKULGA councillor, disclosed that the state Central Investigation Department (CID) was intensifying efforts to ensure that those behind the dastardly act are brought to book.
Ogunsakin stated that no arrest has been made in that regard but was optimistic that the police and other security operatives were on top of the situation.
According to him, the police does not want to make mistake by making indiscriminate arrest where innocent people would be arrested.
It would be recalled that a serving councillor under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area, Sotonye Melford Georgewill was on Sunday killed by unknown cult groups in the state.
The Tide learnt that the incident occurred at about 7:30pm on that fateful day, when the late councillor and his friends were sitting in front of his father’s house at No. 6, Accra Street, Port Harcourt, when four men in a Toyota Camry car shot him.
The Tide further learnt that the late councillor was immediately rushed to the Kelsey Harrison Hospital in Diobu where he was finally confirmed dead.
A family source told The Tide that the cultists shot sporadically to scare people and escaped, adding that the body of the deceased has been deposited in an undisclosed mortuary in Port Harcourt.

Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi (middle) in a group photograph with members and officials of the University of Port Harcourt 2014 NUGA Games led by the University’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ajieka (Governor’s right), during a visit of the UNIPORT Team to Government House, Port Harcourt, Monday.