Police arrest 252 cultists in Delta

Commissioner of police in-charge of Delta State, Alkali
Baba Usman is, no doubt, facing a herculean task. Aside
the incessant criminal activities of cultists in major areas
of the state, he is also saddled with the onerous task of
checkmating the nefarious activities of not just other
criminals but, the recent uprising amongst some agitators
for the creation of sovereign state of Biafra.
From all indications, he has lived up to expectations and
is poised for an onslaught against all forms of crime and
criminality in the state. He spoke with our Crime Editor,
Emma Nnadozie, recently, in Asaba. Excerpts:
INTRODUCTION: Cultism has become a social dilemma.
Some refer to it as a religious or social group with socially
deviant or novel beliefs and practices. The group owes
uncommon allegiance to their leaders. The struggle for
influence, hegemonic supremacy, control and protection
among cult groups is the fundamental and primary cause
of the skirmishes and orgy of cult related killings and
maiming of perceived enemies.
Another factor
that has
prompted
cultism is land
speculation and
speculators. There is also clannish behaviour, these are
people who, for the sake of vengeance, gather and
unleash attacks on people.
In Delta, we have taken the war against cultism to their
camps. We have had diligent clamp down on cults in
different locations.
In Oghara, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad raided cult
hide outs and arrested 48 members. At Agbor, another
cult hot-bed, about 9 cultists were arraigned recently and
are facing the wrath of the law. At Jesse, about 13
members of Sparrows Junior Eye, SJE, were arraigned in
July, 2015.
SupremeVikings
More so, at Ibusa, cult members engaged a SARS team,
threw stones at their Hilux van and damaged the back and
front windscreen. At the end, two of them were nabbed.
As a follow up, the command monitored and arrested 33
male and 2 female members of Supreme Vikings
confraternity also at Ibusa. At Okwe, we nabbed 9
suspected Aiye 1977 A.S,H. Dodorima cultists during their
meeting.
On the whole, over 252 cultists have been arrested since
the beginning of this year and majority of them have been
prosecuted and convicted. We also succeeded in dealing
with several cult-related killings. For instance, last
September at Obiaruku, one Ife Akachukwu, 21, was shot
by rival cultists while another unidentified boy was found
dead after sporadic gunshots by rival cultists groups.
At the same Obiaruku, one Albert Onukaba, 28, was killed
by suspected cultists. The three incidents showed that
rival cultists were on a vengeance mission.
Vengeancemission
At Kwale, the story is the same. One Ifinwa Analuwe, 20
was stabbed to death by suspected rival cultists while in
another incident, the acting chairman of Uvwie LGA, Chief
Stella Otiotio was attacked by armed irate Uwvie youths
suspected to be cultists when she ran into them while
collecting illegal tolls and levies from unsuspecting
members of the public. In addition, we arrested six
suspected Aiye cultists in Warri.
We will not relent in our fight against cultism. In this
regard, we appreciate the cooperation of well-meaning
individuals and stakeholders in the state for quality
information which has helped in stemming cult tide in the
state. I would also appreciate security agencies and the
local community vigilante groups for their various efforts
at curtailing cultism and other violent crimes in the state.
I must add that the motivation and encouragement from
the IGP and AIG Zone 5 cannot be overemphasized. Of
particular note is the interactive session on Police
Community Partnership in crime Prevention and Control
for Credible Youths held recently in Asaba by the AIG Zone
5.The youths who came in their numbers were sensitized
on the need for synergy and collabora-tion in crime
prevention and control.
Necessary for mention is that response time to distress
calls has been reduced to five minutes due to the
command’s effective communication network and
strategic deployment of our men. It is also important to
mention that the level of cooperation has increased
proportionally with the command’s achievements and this
has bestowed public confidence and trust on the
command.