Rivers: Eight feared dead as cultists raid community

At least, eight persons reportedly lost their lives when a group of bandits suspected to be cultists invaded the Rumuodohia, Rumuolumeni community in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The incident happened on Sunday as residents ran out of their homes to avoid being killed by the cultists, who came in search of members of a rival group.

It was learnt that those mowed down by the rampaging cultists were members of a rival group in the area.

A source in the area told Southern City News that the cultists operated between 3am and 5am, adding that the police only came in after the hoodlums had left.

“It happened in the early hours on today (Sunday), between 3am and 5am. Policemen have actually been deployed there now. The police came as the cultists finished their operation,” the source, who preferred not to be mentioned, said.

The Chairman, Rumuolumeni Community Development Committee, Sunny Odum, described the invasion of the community by members of a cult group as strange, adding that the killing of eight persons was unfortunate.

Odum called on residents of the community not to be afraid, promising that security operatives would soon apprehend those behind the dastardly act.

He urged the residents to go about their normal business, adding that measures had been put in place to forestall any recurrence of the incident.

However, efforts made to reach the state Police Public Relations Officer, Nnamdi Omoni, to react to the incident were not successful as his mobile phone rang out without any response. Punch