Rivers cult clash: 8 feared dead

About eight persons were feared dead in last weekend’s clash between two rival cult groups suspected to be Icelanders and Greenlanders which occurred in Asarama, a riverine community in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The Nation gathered that the cult clash took place last Friday in Asarama during the burial ceremony of one Patience Owen when the cultists engaged themselves in a battle for supremacy.

A joint statement issued on the ugly incident, the Paramount Ruler of Asarama, Chief Appolus Nteijab; the Chairman of Asarama Divisional Council of Chiefs, Ubonile Francis Abadi and the Chairman of Asarama Community Development Committee (CDC), Mr. Ndeendeng Atagwung, called on “government and police to beef up security in the area.”

They specifically asked that a police station and men of the Join Military Task Force (JTF) be stationed there to avert future occurrence of the clash which held the entire community hostage.

The statement also called on parents and guardians whose children and wards are members of cult groups, including the ones that clashed in Asarama to call their children and wards to order and also ensure that they denounce cultism and embrace the path of sanity.

The trio of Nteijab, Abadi and Atagwung also stated that the incident has been reported to the Police Area Command in Bori and the JTF in the area who have also swung into action to forestall a repeat of the ugly incident in the community.