Alleged Intra-Cult War Claims Only Son In Imo

A young man identified as Nzube has been killed in an alleged intra-cult war at Akalovo Emekuku Owerri community in Owerri North local government area of Imo State.

The deceased, who lived at Azaraowalla village of the community, reportedly met his untimely death when he, in company of his friends, allegedly stormed a residence at Akalovo Emekuku on Saturday night and shot at a young man identified as “Seaman”.

“Seaman”, now at large, is alleged to be a member of his cult group.

Our correspondent gathered that luck ran out of the attacker when members of the neighbourhood caught him, and inflicted machete injuries on him.

He was later dumped beside a drainage on Emekuku-Mbaise road where he later gave up.

The youth chairman of Akalovo Community in Emekuku Owerri, Mr Ikechukwu Obichere, said the incident was cult-related.

He said efforts to get the attention of the police during and after the incident yielded no results, adding that cultists had been terrorizing the community.

He appealed to law enforcement agents to beam their searchlight on the area as the people now live in fear.

In his words, “It is a cult issue between one of our brothers and his fellow cult member. I only noticed the fight and heard a gunshot before we saw a man that was lying helplessly.

“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 girls.”

Another leader in the community, Mr Franklin Chiagoro, expressed fear that cult-related crimes would escalate in the community if nothing urgent was done.

He called on the government to send security operatives to the area to forestall reprisals.

He said, “They should come and investigate, and know the cause of the youth restiveness in our community. You can’t predict their action. Everybody here is living in fear.”

THE WHISTLER gathered that the deceased was the only son in the family of five.

The police public relations officer, Imo State Command, Mr Micheal Abattam, said he would get in touch with the nearest police division for details and subsequent action.