One person was reportedly killed in New Karu, the headquarters of Karu local government area of Nasarawa State yesterday when members of a cult gang took over the community.
The suspected cultists, who operate freely from street to street, beat and matchete their targets after dispossessing them of their belongings. Yesterday, the cult gang broke into a house in Ungwan Ogoja and killed one of the occupants. Some residents of the area told LEADERSHIP that the corpse of the victim was taken away by a team of policemen who also arrested one of the cult members. When LEADERSHIP visited the area, some of the cultists were seen entering into a provisions store located along Ungwan Hausawa Road where they carted away items displayed for sale.
According to him, the activities of the cultists have lingered for long with some of them even operating near police stations the council without any resistance or arrest. He named the communities that are constantly terrorised by the “cult boys” as Ungwan Jikwoyi, Ungwan Hausawa, New Nyanya, Ungwan Ogoja and Ungwan Lamathy all in New Karu.
When our reporter arrived at the church, some of the worshippers ran out of the building while others jumped over the fence to escape from the cult gang. Between 12pm and 1:15pm yesterday, the movement of vehicles and commercial motorcyclists (Okada) was restricted in certain areas as the cultists had a field day.
Sources said that sanity was restored when members of a vigilante group mobilised and chased the criminals out of the community. Thereafter, some policemen stormed one of the areas under the criminals’ siege, leading to the arrest of one of their members. When contacted, the Nasarawa State police commissioner, Mr. Bola Longe, promised to contact the divisional police officer (DPO) in charge of New Karu.
