Adibe Emenyonu in Benin-city
No fewer than 11 persons have been reportedly killed in Benin-city, Edo State capital, in a renewed cult war between last Sunday and Tuesday.
The killings were as a result of the battle of supremacy between rival cult members said to belong to Eiye and black axe.
Three persons were hacked to death at Isibor Junction adjacent to St Saviour Road, Upper Sokponba, while another one was said to have been killed on Murtala Muhammed Way and one in Idaho Street off Sokponba road.
Another three were said to have been killed last Tuesday evening which led to the state Commissioner of Police, Danmallam Abubakar Muhammed, personally leading his team to the area to restore order.
There was free flow of traffic along the frequently congested Sokponba road by Third Junction yesterday morning as many of the drivers and their conductors stayed off the road apparently to evade arrests as some of them are suspected to be members of the rival cults.
It was also learnt that the renewed killings began last Sunday night when one of the cultists was reportedly killed by Iyobosa street opposite Edo College at a place popularly called Aso Rock by another suspected rival cult group.
While one was said to have been killed by Second near Etiosa by Lucky Junction, another was killed along Agbor Road near NNPC depot just as another was killed last Monday by a street opposite the NNPC depot.
At Ekiosa market on Murtala Muhammed Way, two persons were killed last Monday night while one was reportedly killed by Owoba near Immaculate Conception College (ICC).
As at the time of filing this report, the town has been calm, but repeated calls to the state Police Public Relations Officer, Chidi Nwabuzor, to confirm the number of arrests made have not been successful.
Nevertheless, an anti-cultism group, Legend Foundation, has called on the state government and security agencies to up their fight against crime in the state.
The group Director General, Kadiri Christopher, however, urged parents and guardians to guide their wards against cultism and other vices.
