Anambra State Police Commissioner, Mr. Garba Umar, has revealed that a gun battle between two rival cult groups in Awka, the state
capital, has claimed 16 persons in two weeks.
Umar stated this on Tuesday while parading 35
arrested suspected cultists at the state police command in Amawbia, near Awka.
He raised the alarm over the increase in cult
related activities in Awka, stating that he fears that a confession by one of
the suspects, who stated that over 90 percent of youths in Awka, including
students, artisans and others, are cultists, may not be far from the truth.
The commissioner called on parents to perform their
function by taming their children as the command may commence charging them to
court for murder.
Black Axe and the Vikings fraternity in Awka have
for weeks been enmeshed in a superiority war, leading to the death of members
from both groups.
Some of the suspected cultists paraded by the
commissioner are Chukwudi Machie, 34; Chukwudi Igwebueze, 32; Onyeka Igbanugo,
28; Ifeanyi Anazoba, 32, and Chukwuemeka Nwokoye, 32, among others.
One of the suspect, Machie, in an interview with
journalists confessed that most of the commercial motorcyclists and tricycle
operators in the capital city were all members of one cult group or the other.
Machie said: "Over 92 percent of young people
in Awka and environ are members of one secret cult or the other. We recruit
them young."
Items recovered from the suspects are one AK 47
riffle, one Beretta English pistol, two locally made double barrel pistol, one
single barrel short gun, 15 rounds of 7.62 live ammunition, three cartridges
and a red Toyota Matrix car snatched from its owner at Benin-city, Edo State.
The commissioner reiterated that his command would
not fold its arm and watch while cultists wreak havoc on the city, threatening
to arrest and charge suspects with murder if parents and guardians failed to
play their role of leading their wards aright.
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