‘How Army Killed Five Suspected Cultists In Rivers’

The Nigerian Army has explained how its personnel shot and killed five suspected cultists in the early hours of Tuesday in Omoku, headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The Army High Command, which said five suspected notorious cultists were killed during a fierce gun battle with men of the Nigerian Army, also added that soldiers deployed to track criminal elements, have recovered five AK-47 rifles in the state within three days.
The General Officer Commanding (GOC), 6 Division of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt, Major-General Kasimu Abdulkarim, who confirmed the development to newsmen, added that the gunmen, on sighting the soldiers, opened fire without any provocation.
Abdulkarim noted that the soldiers quickly responded to the attack, and during the gun duel, the five suspected cultists were killed.
He said five AK-47 rifles had so far been recovered from hoodlums in the local government in the past two days.
The GOC said the Army had recorded appreciable success in its bid to rid the local government of cultists and brigands.
According to him, “We have recovered a total of five AK-47 rifles from cultists in the area since January 1.”
The Tide learnt that the Army responded to a distress call in Omoku last Tuesday night when the cultists stormed the town, shooting sporadically.
It was gathered that the cultists had killed two young men before the soldiers closed in on them.
Abdulkarim also said that corpses of two of the cultists recovered on Palace Road in Omoku were displayed at the Police Station in Omoku.
He added that the other three corpses were found at the end of the battle with the soldiers.
It would be recalled that the Army recently launched an operation to clean-up the local government area of hoodlums and brigands.
The GOC claimed that the Army had overwhelmed the hoodlums in the local government.
The Tide recalls that the Army’s feat is coming months after the Rivers State Government launched an amnesty programme to allow members of different gangs and cult groups to turn in their guns peacefully.
After the programme, the government said over 20,000 cultists in Rivers State gave up arms and subscribed to the amnesty programme.
The figure was given in a report of the Rivers State Amnesty Committee submitted to the state Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike.
It also stated that thousands of ammunition and explosives were recovered within 60 days of intense, and sometimes, dangerous work of disarming and enlisting thousands of cultists into the Rivers State Amnesty Programme.