In an effort to complement the security agencies in the state, the leadership of Salvation Ministries in Rivers State has handed over to the state police command various caches of ammunition and weapons surrendered to it by over 300 repentant militants, who have embraced Christ.
A breakdown of the weapons surrendered by the church during the “taking the gospel to creeks”, an initiative of the General Overseer of Salvation Ministries, Pastor David Ibiyeomie, included seven locally-made pistols, 40 machetes, one English made double barrel gun, four axes, one dagger, six live ammunition and one cartridge, among others.
Speaking during a press briefing at the Rivers State Police Command Headquarters in Port Harcourt, last Tuesday, the Commissioner of Police, Zaki Ahmed told journalists that the weapons surrendered by the former cultists were part of the achievements recorded by the command.
Zaki attributed the surrendering of the weapons by the ex-militants to the effective implementation on the Inspector-General of Police’s (IGP) directive on arms control and mop-up of all illegally-acquired firearms in the country by the command.
He disclosed that the eight-man Special Task Force headed by the DCP Operations, Stephen Hasso, to enforce the IGP’s order in the state, took the awareness and sensitisation campaigns to religious houses, communities, local government area headquarters and schools, among others.