Five Die In Cult Clash

There is uneasy calm in Umudioga Community in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Not fewer than five persons have been shot dead with one of them beheaded last night, in a rival cult gang clash.
The Community Development Committee Chairman of Umudioga, Anyunele Bright, who confirmed the senseless killing, attributed it to the invasion of a rival cult gang in the community on a reprisal mission.
According to him, “they killed five boys, among whom, one was beheaded. When I got the information about the attack, I called the Commissioner of Police who detailed the Assistant Commissioner of Police in Ahoada. The Police anti-cultism unit, SARS, the army are all here and peace has returned to the community but not with welled up apprehension that there may be counter attack in the nearest future.”
Umudioga Youth President, Chinyere Amadi, said  Ezeka Nwadike and Prince Omata were among those killed.
Amadi said the community has been deserted as inhabitants seek refuge elsewhere in the absence of security operatives.
A member of the Caretaker Committee of Emohua Local Government Council, Larry Godwin, also said that the council immediately contacted the security agencies about the cult clash and different security agencies deployed their officers and men to the community to quell the situation
“Just as you are already aware, as a local government council, we contacted the relevant security agencies which quickly mobilized to the flash points in Umudioga. The community is now calm. We advise anyone who has useful information about the hoodlums to contact the nearest police station,” Godwin assured.
The Rivers State Police Command said a number of suspects have already been arrested.
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Nnamdi Omoni, assured that security agencies have been deployed to the community to contain the bloody clash.
It would be recalled that the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, had given state amnesty to cult members in the state who voluntarily surrendered their dangerous weapons to the State Amnesty Committee headed by Ken Chinda after a 90-day window that enabled the committee to mop up illegal arms in the hands of hoodlums.
Unfortunately, recent upsurge in kidnapping, rival cult gang attacks and robberies is a pointer to the fact that the disarmament by the amnesty committee may not have been effective enough in the state.
In another development, one person has been reportedly killed while several others sustained bullet wounds in clashes in Akabuka town in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area.
A source from the community told newsmen that trouble started when a suspected cult leader returned home for the first time after he was granted amnesty by the Rivers State Government.
Our source said the presence of the returnee cult leader sparked an argument between members of his group and a rival gang, which later resulted in sporadic shooting yesterday evening.
Men of Joint Military Task Force have since been deployed in Akabuka town to calm the situation.