50 feared killed as rival cult groups fight in Rivers

At least 50 people have been reportedly killed in the last two weeks as fighting among rival cult groups in Ogba/Egbema/Andoni Local Government of Rivers State rages on.

It was gathered that the ugly development has ravaged about 17 communities in the area.

Worried by the developments, youths from Egi clan in the area staged a peaceful protest in Port Harcourt at the weekend, appealing to the security agencies and the Federal Government to intervene urgently to prevent further deaths.

The leader of the group, Promise Ege, expressed regrets that the violence has forced many residents to flee from the 17 communities that make up the Egi Clan in the council.

He said: “The rival cult groups not only indulged in killing, they come to rob. They are not interested whether you are a cult member or not: if you don’t have money they shoot you, rape your wife, kill her and go away.

“Now we are saying: we are all Egi people and they are our brothers and sisters. We don’t want further killings. We want this crisis to end. We want our people to have peace because we are known in this land as peace-loving people”.

The deputy leader of the youth group, Walter Odede, said they were tired of the growing insecurity challenges in the council. He called on the state and federal governments to rise up to the situation. He expressed shock that no arrest has been made since the killings.

“Our protest is to draw the attention of all men and women of goodwill, including the United Nations, to the fact that the cultists are killing innocent people on daily basis, raping women alongside their daughters. From Monday (last week) till now, they have killed up to 50 people.”

To check the killings, the Chairman of the Ogba/Egbema/Andoni Local Government, Augustine Ahiamadu, has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the council.