Police arrest 11 in Uyo over cult activities

At least 11 suspects have been arrested in connection with a recent cult war in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Spokesman for the Akwa Ibom State Police Command and a Deputy Superintendent of Police, Etim Dickson, disclosed this in an interview with Daily Independent in Uyo.

According to Dickson, as at Friday last week, 11 of the suspects were arrested from their various hideouts in the city and the police are still on trail of other fleeing suspects.

He explained that the weekend and the Sallah holidays were responsible for the delay in charging the suspects to court and assured that this would be done as soon as the holidays were over.

Dickson urged residents of Uyo and other parts of the state to go about their lawful duties peacefully as they celebrate the holidays and beyond because the police have put machinery in place to check the activities of deviants.

The police spokesman described the activities of the hoodlums as a whirlwind that blows no good and charged residents of the state to report any suspicious activities to the police or other security agencies.

Our correspondent gathered that one Enefiok Ekarika was shot while departing from a barbing saloon along Iboko Street in Uyo.

According to. Ekarika, father of the victim, who is receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital in Uyo, the son was coming out of the saloon when he met with the unidentified gunmen who shot at him.

It would be recalled that more than 10 person have been shot dead in Uyo in the wake of an outbreak of a cult war involving gunmen alleged to be members Vikings, Red Skin, and KKK, also known as Klansmen.

Sources said the war started at a drinking spot along Akpan Essien Street, where a political argument turned violent, and a fight ensued, which later led to shootouts across the city.

Some high ranking politicians and some chairmen of local government councils were alleged to be behind the killings, which were described as rehearsals for the 2015 elections in the state.

A victim and driver in Government House,. Anieyie Essien, 27, was killed on Friday and buried in his father’s compound on Saturday.

Our correspondent gathered that one of the dead, identified as Anieyie, who was shot twice by some unidentified gunmen and matcheted several times in the head.
According to an eyewitness, “After Anieyie had gone down, one of the cultists, who was a  little far from him shouted, ‘finish him, confirm,’ and the people that shot him, brought out their cutlasses and machete him to death.

“After Anieyie had been killed, many people abandoned the entire community in fear being killed in a reprisal attack.” It is also gathered that while Anieyie had been buried, the corpse of another victim was found along Udoumana, near Akpan Andem Market, where it is being kept in the mortuary.