That Mgbuoshimini Killings

On Monday last week, residents of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital woke up to the ugly news of the massacre of no fewer than 15 innocent people by suspected cultists in Mgbuoshinini Community in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the State.
This latest round of killings in the community brings to 22 the number of persons murdered in cold blood since May, this year. Chief Minikwu Chukwu, Secretary of the Rumueme Council of Chiefs and one Optimist Jaja were killed in May alongside Chief Mgbor and an unidentified boy who were also murdered about the same period.
Similarly, on July 30, Baridule Cletus Dunle was shot dead while on October 4, 2017, Godspower Aligbo and Dickson Gogo-Jaja had their lives snuffed out by suspected cultists in the very lively community that hosts the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, one of the nation’s oil giants.
While security reports have blamed the killings on inter-cult rivalry, other sources say that the murders may not be unconnected with chieftaincy tussle, land dispute and youth leadership crisis in the community.
Whatever may be the reason, The Tide unreservedly condemns the mindless orgy of wastage of invaluable human lives. We insist that no reason can be reasonable enough to justify the killing of the innocent people.
We earnestly endorse the Rivers State Government’s condemnation of the unfortunate incident in Mgbuoshimini and its charge to security agencies in the state to rise up to the occasion and stop the reckless blood-letting in this community in particular and the entire State.
The Tide commends the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike for the prompt visit to the scene of the crime, condoling with the bereaved families and firmly promising that “those involved in this dastardly act will not go scot-free”, even as he emphasised that “we will fight the cultists to the point that they will know that Rivers State is not a safe haven for them”.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the task of eradicating cultism and other violent crimes in the State is a collective responsibility that requires all indigenes as well as residents in the state to synergise in the anti-crime campaign.
The Tide is aware that the window of opportunity opened by the Rivers State Government through the state Amnesty Programme for cultists and other criminals to repent and be rehabilitated has since closed. The security agencies must, therefore, bring down their full might on those who have made a choice to make lives unbearable for peace-loving and law-abiding citizens.
To this end, all the agencies which have the constitutional responsibility to ensure the security of lives and property of the citizenry, especially the police, must resolve to work in perfect understanding and cooperation with the state government to achieve the goal of making Rivers State a crime-free state.
On his part, President Muhammadu Buhari should respond to the Rivers State Government’s repeated demand for the redeployment of the State Commander of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Mr Akin Fakorede often accused of complicity in the disruption of the state’s security architecture. An urgent action in this direction will ensure cordial and effective collaboration in the fight against crime and criminality in the state.
After all, those behind the murder of innocent persons in Mgbuoshimini and other killings did not come from outer space. People must also volunteer information on the identities and whereabouts of the perpetrators to the security agencies for them to be apprehended and dealt with accordingly.
Mgbuoshimini chiefs, youths and other stakeholders in particular, and all community leaders in general in Rivers State, must deliberately commit to resolving issues through peaceful and lawful means, instead of  taking to aggressive and violent measures at the slightest provocation.
Everyone must come to the immutable realisation that to employ violence in the resolution of any conflict is to guarantee a mutually assured destruction, and that people must deliberately cultivate the virtues of good neighbourliness, self restraint and respect for the sanctity of life for our communities and individuals to experience sustainable progress and development.