….Swali, Agudama, Akenfa, other communities declare anti-cult stance against violence

By: Odieh Ramon, Yenagoa.

Operatives of the Bayelsà State Police Command have intensified the clampdown on warring cult groups in the state with the arrest of over twenty suspects.

The security action, ordered by the State Police Commissioner, Ajao Saka Adewale, has led police operatives to Swali, Akenfa, Down Yenagoa, Agudama and other communities known to have been infested by these cult groups.

Our correspondent gathered that the Police action and warnings to community leaders and youths known to be harbouring these cultists have openly disowned the cult groups.

It was gathered yesterday that the police Divisions in the State, with the assistance of tactical teams, have made useful arrests, and the activities of the cult groups have been curtailed.

A check from Police sources showed that known notorious cultists have been arrested and others are being hunted.

However, the Police chasing and shooting at suspected cultists in the Onopa area of the State capital has sparked protests, with Indigenes accusing the operatives of the Anti-cultism team of indiscriminate arrests and shootings.

The aggrieved Indigenes also alleged that the Policeman who shot the boy and the informant who implicated him as a member of Vikings and selling illicit drugs are also members of a rival cult group known as Bobos.

They called on the Commissioner of Police, Ajao Saka Adewale, to investigate some of the police personnel in the state over their alleged involvement in cultism in the state.

The young man, who is accused of selling illicit drugs under the alleged cover of being a POS operator, was shot on Tuesday during a police raid.

Police authorities confirmed that the young man is receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Center in Yenagoa and is not dead, as rumoured by the aggrieved community Indigene.

It would be recalled that no fewer than five persons have been feared killed at the weekend in a renewed cult war that gripped Yenagoa, the Bayelsà State capital.

The war, which broke out on Friday between notorious cult groups known as Bobos and Greenlanders, has led to recorded killings in Agudama, Obele and Back of St.Peters in the state capital.

Sources confirmed he killings have damaged the peace accord secured among the various cult groups by the Former leadership of the State Police Command.

The State Commissioner of Police, CP Ajao Saka Adewale, however, responded with an order for personnel to intensify operations against cultism and cult-related violence across the State

Ajao has ordered intensified operations against cult-related activities, insisting there must be no sacred cow.

The CP directed Divisional Police Officers and tactical commanders to increase patrols in vulnerable areas, identify emerging threats and act promptly on credible intelligence about planned clashes, initiation ceremonies and recruitment.