Gunmen Kill Three Repentant Cultists

Luck ran out on three repentant cultists as they were gunned down, while others escaped in a mid-night reprisal attack by yet-to-be-unidentified assailants over the weekend in Okogbe community in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The two of the repentant cultists, Wisdom Osiga and Chimezu Ade, died on the spot; while another (name withheld) who sustained bullet wounds, was said to be a body guard of Comrade David Joseph Ezonwoke, popularly called General Coomasy.
Narrating the ordeal, Ezonwike said “I lost two men, but one sustained injury. I don’t know if after the amnesty, there are still grudges; I never believed until I noticed it last night.”
The repentant cult leader said, “We were relaxing outside; all of us discussing, until I left them. I stayed beside them, at a position base the way normally relaxed.
“The next thing we saw at about some minutes past 2am shortly after attending a night vigil by the Christian Association of Okogbe,” Coomasy said, “was a group of people came, they passed through the backyard, and launched attack on us; the sound of the guns I heard was too much, but three sophisticated guns were crying in full rapidity.
“They succeeded in killing two of my men, and one severely wounded”, Coomasy stated.
He said, “I am not happy. I have informed the government agencies about it. Since the amnesty, this is the fifth time I have lost my men. I don’t know if this is how the peace is going to come or I am the only one to guarantee the peace.
“But I am still watching the government; I will not fold my hands, this is the fifth one. I want to see what the government will do to put an end to this kind of attacks on me and my men,” Coomasy added.
He appealed to the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, to save his life and that of his men, including other repentant cultists in the state.
Meanwhile, the corpses of Chimezu, a native of Ubeta Community and Wisdom from Ukepeliede Community have been deposited in an undisclosed morgue, while the wounded guard has been hospitalized.
It would be recalled that since the amnesty offer, the Ekpeye Chief Freedom Fighters and his gang have been playing cool, but continued to count their losses.
Recently, one of his henchmen, late Soprano from Odhiogbor Community was clubbed to death in the night.
The Tide learnt that the incident was reported to the police, and until the time of filing this report, nobody has been arrested.
The deaths of Soprano, Chimezu, Wisdom and two others from Coomasy’s camp have since pushed the losses from the gang to five.
When The Tide contacted the DPO at Ahoada for comments, he referred our correspondent to the Police Public Relations Officer, Nnamdi Omoni in Port Harcourt for confirmation of the incidents and what the command was doing to check the trend.

Emenike Benson Agimo