• Police nab notorious cultists terrorising Port Harcourt

Gunmen, suspected to be hoodlums have shot dead a young man identified as Johnson George Sopruchi at Abakiliki close near Emenike Street, Mile 1 Diobu, Port Harcourt City Council of Rivers State.

The Guardian learnt that the incident happened Saturday night. The hoodlums shot Sopruchi, who according to neighbours, hails from Imo State, and also collected his phone.

It was gathered that the victim died early in the morning of Sunday at a hospital in Mile 1 Diobu. Sources where he does printing jobs said residents are still looking for a way to connect his people.

They appealed to anyone who knows his people to go to Mile 1 Police station. The killing came barely three days after a man was shot dead at Nanka/Lumuber Street, Mile 1 Diobu.

The Guardian had reported that the killing of the yet-to-be-identified man at Nanka/Lumuber Street, Mile 1 Diobu at about 9:20p.m. on Thursday night triggered a pandemonium in Mile 2 and Mile 3 axis of Diobu area of the state. Sources said about four gunmen had trailed their target to a kiosk where he went to purchase noodles and shot him in the head as he left the shop.

The unexpected incident threw passers-by in panic as they scampered for safety. The remains of the deceased were later evacuated by the police as sources suggested that the attack may be connected to a fallout between cult members. They alleged of an intra-cult fighting between two factions of Deygbam group jostling for territorial control of an illegal business site in the area.

When contacted, spokesperson for Rivers State Police Command, SP Grace Iringe-Koko confirmed the incident, but added that investigation has commenced with a view to apprehending the killers.

MEANWHILE, operatives of the Rivers State Police Command have nabbed two notorious cultists terrorising the Diobu axis of Port Harcourt.

The suspects: Ejike Samuel, 32, a native of Omoku in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Council, and resident at Okonkwo in Gambia, Diobu; and Victor Kokoriko, 29, from Sampo, Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Council in Bayelsa State.

They were alleged to be the masterminds of several cult clashes in the Gambia/Ayama area of Diobu, Port Harcourt. Spokesperson for the command, Grace Iringe-Koko in a statement, yesterday, said the suspects were the mastermind of the January 30, cult clash at Gambia/Ayama area of Diobu, Port Harcourt, where series of destructive clashes between rival cult groups left many wounded and property worth millions of naira damaged.

She noted that they were arrested on their way back from demanding royalties on behalf of their cult groups from scrap material dealers inside an area in Gambia Street referred to as “Bribabo”.

Iringe-Koko, while explaining that the suspects have confessed their roles in the series of clashes, added that Ejike is a member and armourer of Castle Cult (Dey Bam) who is trying to switch to Junior Vikings Confraternity (JVC) owing to intimidation.

According to her, he took with him, Dey Bam gun, which was in his possession and that resulted in some of the clashes. She said: “Ejike confessed to being a leader in the Castle cult group but decided to call it quits after he was restricted from interacting with his pals from a rival cult group, JVC (Junior Vikings Confraternity).

“He was an armourer of Castle and was in possession of a locally made revolver that had been placed in his care by his superior leader, one Jamil, who he said operates as a meat seller in the local abattoir but coordinates all the activities of the cult group.

“The gun was handed over to him in October 2022. He also intimated the Police that on several occasions, he had been badly beaten and ‘drilled’ for associating with friends from JVC, so he decided to cross-carpet to the JVC once and for all.

“After he decided to quit and join JVC, he switched lanes with the revolver still in his possession and refused to return it. This provoked the Castle group, and they launched attacks of gathering spots of the JVCs to recover the revolver, which culminated in the violent confrontations of January 2024.”

According to Victor, they usually collect royalties and pay to the ‘Doff-man’ (treasurer) of the cult, who then gives them a cut for their troubles.

“Victor, who was incarcerated at the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre between 2020 and 2021 for cult-related violence that led to grievous bodily harm to a victim, stated that Ejike received a phone call from a certain Effiong, who was a ‘Senior man’ (a former cultist).

“While he was on the call and distracted, he was apprehended by the Police accompanied by the vigilante. They were searched, and the locally made revolver was recovered from them on the spot,” Iringe-Koko said.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Tunji Disu, has expressed optimism that synergy between the police and community-based security outfits can yield the desired result of addressing the menace of cultism. He also warned cultists and other criminals in the state to steer clear of crime as the hand of the law was closer to them than they realised.