Posted by By Henry Chukwurah, Port Harcourt on
The Nigerian Army on Tuesday identified leaders of two major cult groups in Rivers State as those behind the mayhem that rocked Port Harcourt and its environs last week. They are Messrs Ateke Tom and Soboma George.
The Nigerian Army on Tuesday identified leaders of two major cult groups in Rivers State as those behind the mayhem that rocked Port Harcourt and its environs last week. They are Messrs Ateke Tom and Soboma George.
Already, the Joint Task Force has commenced a manhunt for the two suspected cult leaders.
Briefing reporters in Port Harcourt, the Commander of the 2 Amphibious Brigade, Brigadier-General Samuel Salihu said the mayhem was a fallout of a recent peace accord brokered in Okrika town, near Port Harcourt, about three weeks ago, in which all but two warring cult groups in the area met and agreed to forge a common front.
General Salihu said that it was the merged group including the Niger Delta Vigilante led by Ateke Tom, that invaded Port Harcourt and the suburbs.
The groups was said to have been locked in, 'a battle for territorial claim" with the Soboma-led group.
General Salihu, who announced the arrest of some of the cultist and the recovery of weapons from their hideouts, assured that the deployment of soldiers to the streets would continue, 'until law abiding citizens are no longer molested by the militants."
He confirmed the arrest of a state legislator, Hon. Dan Amakiri following the location of his poster inside a damaged vehicle used by some of the cultists during Saturday's violence and in another place that was later searched.
'We picked him because to us, it is tantamount to aiding and abetting the militants."
General Salihu assured that the lawmaker would be released if at the end of interrogations, he is found clean.
'If we have something indicting him, he will be prosecuted. Nobody is above the law. Anybody we find supporting these boys will face the music."
Speaking to journalists later at a display of the recovered arms ands ammunition, the Brigade's Public Relations Officer, Major Sagir Musa, assured that the two cult leaders involved in the mayhem would soon be arrested.
He said that their arrest had been made difficult by, 'our inability to specifically locate where they are" and appealed to members of the public to, 'feel free to volunteer information to the Joint Task Force" and even the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps on the two men's whereabouts.
The recovered weapons some of which Major Musa said, were dug out from a refuse dump include two sub-machine guns, 9 AK 47 riffles, more than 20 dynamites and two General Purposes Machine guns that the Army spokesman said, 'can waste 1,000 rounds of ammunitions in one minute" and remains the deadliest light firearm
'For now, modernity has not invented any light weapon with better lethal power", he said of the gun.
Others recovered were three locally made dane guns, two local pistol, one Bareta pistol and heaps of catridges, 7.6mm, 5.6mm and 7.62mm ammunitions.
Major Musa said that the military was making efforts to fish out the cultists' sources of weapon supply.
He told newsmen that the mayhem would have claimed more lives if the Joint Task Force had not deployed some military personnel to some strategic spots following security hint that an inter cult clash was about to take place.
On allegations that one of the feuding cult groups enjoys the backing of some state government officials the Army Spokesman said although it was not aware of such allegation, any proved case would be reported, to the appropriate authorities.