Mohammed Shosanya
The Rivers State Police Command said its operatives have arrested the primary suspect involved in the violent cult clashes that have rocked the Diobu axis of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The police also recovered a locally made revolver pistol from the suspect who is currently in custody as investigation continues.
On January 30, 2024, the Gambia and Ayama axis of Diobu, Port Harcourt, witnessed a series of destructive clashes between rival cult groups that left several wounded and properties worth millions of Naira damaged.
Also,several vehicles windshields were smashed and shops looted following the melee, prompting the Mile 1 Police Division to intervene by curbing the growing exchanges and arresting several suspected cultists who were later transferred to the Anti-Cultism unit, where further investigations where investigations unmasked the identities and activities of the suspects.
Public Relations Officer for the Rivers State Police Command, SP Grace Iringe-Koko in a statement on Sunday said the police had charged to court and remanded in the correctional center, Port Harcourt seven out of the arrested suspects, adding that investigations revealed that the leading cause of the clashes was one Ejike Samuel, a former gang leader that belonged to the Castle, Deygbam cult group.
Iringe-Koko said the 32-year-old Ejike, a native of Omoku in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of the state, who resides at Okonkwo in Gambia area of Diobu, was arrested on Friday February 14, 2024, alongside his accomplice, Victor Kokoriko, 29, from Sampo, Kolokuma/Opokuma LGA in Bayelsa, sparked the clashes.
The state Police PRO said trouble started after the primary suspect, who earlier belonged to Dagbam cult group where he was an armourer, resigned his membership and joined a rival cult group, known as Junior Vikings Confraternity (JVC), alongside a locally made revolver pistol in his possession.
Iringe-Koko said, “After he decided to quit and join JVC, he switched lanes with the revolver still in his possession and refused to return it. This provoked the Castle group, and they launched attacks of gathering spots of the JVCs to recover the revolver, which culminated in the violent confrontations of January 2024.
“The duo were arrested on their way back from demanding royalties on behalf of JVC from dealers in scrap materials inside an area in Gambia they referred to as “bribabo”. According to Victor, they usually collect these royalties and pay to the ‘Doff-man’ (treasurer) of the cult, who then gives them a cut for their troubles.”
According to Iringe-Koko, the state Commissioner of Police, CP Olatunji Disu, had expressed optimism that the synergy between the Police and Community-Based Security outfits would yield the desired result in addressing the menace of cultism.
Disu further commended men of the Mile 1 Police Division and the Anti-Cultism Unit for their ingenuity in forging collaborations to achieve results, warning cultists and other criminals in the state to steer off crimes as the hand of the law was closer to them than they realized.
In another development,some gunmen suspected to be cultists have on Saturday night shot and killed a printer identified as George Johnson Sopruchi at Abakaliki street close to Emenike street in Mile 1 Diobu, Port Harcourt.
Witnesses in the area,said that the gunmen trailed the printer to the street at about 8:30pm, before shooting him while he was discussing with an acquaintance.
They said the assailants after shooting the young man at the shoulder, carted away his motorcycle and one of his mobile phones, adding that although the victim was rushed to a nearby hospital for medical attention, the victim died the following day, as a resident doctor at the hospital confirmed him dead on Sunday morning.
This was as another young man whose identity is yet unknown was shot dead in a similar fashion at the nearby Nanka street by Lumumber in the Mile 1 area Diobu in Port Harcourt.
Public Relations Officer for the Rivers State Police Command, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, who confirmed the incidents said Police are currently trailing the culprits, adding that investigation is ongoing.
