20 Suspected Cultists Arrested in A’Ibom

By Okon Bassey in Uyo

No fewer than 20 suspected cultists, who had been terrorising the people of  Eket local government area of Akwa Ibom State have been arrested by the Police.

The Area Commander, Eket Area Command, ACP Emeka Nwonyi stated this in an emergency security meeting with stakeholders in Eket local government area on Friday, where he reassured the people of their safety and  protection of property.

The Police, he said were out to fish out those that perpetuate crimes in Eket and  its environs, stressing that “we have arrested not less than 20 suspected cultists since the incident started on June 10.”

Nwonyi tasked traditional rulers, village heads, youths presidents and other stakeholders not to hesitate in exposing criminals to the police through useful information in order for them to face the full wrath of the law.

He warned that the Police would not take it kindly with anybody that shielded or condoned criminal acts in his area of jurisdiction instead of exposing them.

“I am appealing to you to provide useful information that will help us do our job effectively, Police only work on information. They will not crush us, we will crush them,” he said.

He lamented that night life in Eket had ceased due to criminal activities of cultists in the area.

Also speaking at the meeting, the Chairman of Eket local government area, Mr. Frank Archibong, condemned the killing of people in Eket and its environs by criminal elements.

“I condemn  this act totally; we cannot continue like this as a local government, we need practicable solution in solving this issue. We need lasting solutions to the problem,” he said.

The essence of the meeting, he said was to strategise for a practicable solution to end cultism in Eket local government area and its environs.

“We will bring ideas on how we can best tackle this menace; if we allow cultism to continue, it may degenerate to a level that we won’t be able to control it again,” Archibong observed.

 

As the Chief Security Officer in the area, Archibong noted that almost the entire city was infested with cultism, stressing, “We must begin to check the actions of our children and visitors because investigations show that 90 per cent of the people causing problems are not from Eket but other neighbouring local governments.

 

He said the Council would fashion out ways to address cultism in secondary schools across the local government assuring of a committee to seek lasting solution to cultism in the oil rich area.

 

On his part, the representative of the Directorate of State Security (DSS) in the area, Mr. Patriot Kings said the department had done a lot to ameliorate the incident of violence occasioned by cultism in the area.

 

Kings described the forum as being timely condemning the action of criminals in the territory and added that all hands must be on deck to check the menace.

 

The directorate, he said will continue to strategize with other security agencies to protect life and property of the citizens in Eket.