CULT WAR CLAIMS ONE LIFE IN IMO
REPORTER: CHINAZO ILECHUKWU
A young man simply identified as Nzube has been killed in an alleged intra-cult war at Akalovo Emekuku, Owerri, in Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State.
The deceased who lived in a nearby village, Azaraowalla, allegedly met his untimely death when he, in company of his friends, stormed a residence at Akalovo Emekuku on Saturday night and shot at a young man identified as “Seaman” now at large, and believed to me a member of his cult group.
Luck ran out of Nzube when he tried to escape after the attack as he was caught by people in the compound, who immediately inflicted machete injuries on him before dumping him beside drainage in Emekuku-Mbaise Road where he gave up the ghost.
The Youth Chairman of Akalovo Community in Emekuku Owerri, Mr. Ikechukwu Obichere, described the incident as cult-related and noted that efforts to get the attention of the Police during and after the incident yielded no result.
He lamented that cultists had been terrorizing the community and appealed to law enforcement agents to beam their searchlight on the area as the people now live in fear.
“It is a cult issue between one of our brothers and his fellow cult member. I only noticed the fight and heard a gun shot before we saw a man that was dead lying helplessly and I called the Police that night till this morning we didn’t see anybody.
“The cult boys have been disturbing here shooting and harassing people, raping little girls,” the youth leader cried out.
Another leader in the community, Mr. Franklin Chiagoro, said the community had become helpless and expressed the fear that cult related crime would escalate in the community if nothing urgent was done.
“Am calling on government, they should sit up, it is out of hand there might be more dead bodies and we don’t want that to happen.
“They should come and investigate and know the cause of these youth restiveness in our community. You can’t predict their action everybody here is living in fear,” he complained.
An elder sister to the deceased, who was wailing uncontrollably when the remains were evacuated, lamented why the brother whom she said was the only son in the family of five chose to die the way he did.
The deceased was said to be notorious in the area as passersby kept making uncomplimentary remarks about him.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Imo State Command, Mr. Micheal Abattam, in a reaction, said he would get in touch with the nearest police division for details and subsequent action.