No fewer than 200 youths attached to the Bayelsa State Volunteer Services have denounced their membership of different secret cults existing in the state.

They renounced their memberships of the secret groups during a ceremony organised by the Volunteer Group on Monday at its state office in Yenagoa.

Mr Douye Koroye, the state Chairman of the Volunteers, also spoke at the event.

Koroye said that the youths decided to denounce cultism following the stiff penalties put in place by the state government against the group.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that state law stipulates 20 years’ jail term with no option of fine for convicted cultists.

Koroye stated that as a youth body, they had come to set good examples for other youths.

They wanted to give peace a chance in the state and to give credibility to the state government’s law against cultists.

He assured the youths that nobody would be victimised on account of their decision to denounce the cult they belonged to.

The Chairman said: “As a youth body, the proper thing to do is to start from ourselves.

“Today, the Bayelsa State Volunteer Services Special Squad members, local government coordinators, and others are here to give peace a chance and say no more to cultism.

“Be rest assured that nobody is here to victimise anybody but to give credibility to what the state governor has done. We are here to denounce cultism and to do the right thing.

“It is all about credibility; you can see that the policy that the government has put in place must be implemented.

“We believe that as youths we must be free from cultism and crime and the only way to be free from crime is by doing what we have done today.

“I want to believe that Bayelsan youths will take advantage of what we have done. Others that we have not reached out to, very soon we will reach out to them also.

“The next step is to reach out to the local government areas and also get their youths to renounce cultism.

“We want to make sure that our youths are free from cultism and live a good life.

Chief Spero Jack, the Special Adviser on Security Matters to the Bayelsa State Governor, in his remarks commended the youths for their courage to openly denounce cultism.

“This is an achievement that has been accredited to the government of Bayelsa State; the sole purpose is to unite the youths to the government course.

“We are giving them a second opportunity and a lifeline to forget about cultism and denounce their memberships of secret cults.

“And indeed, they have been forgiven, they should turn a new leaf and work together with the government to move the state forward,” he said.

Also, the Leader of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Peter Akpe, described cultism as a cancer.

He commended the state government for having the political will to tackle cultism in the state.

He said, “My message to the youths is to key into this initiative, because one of the menaces that needed to be tackled the issue of cultism.” (NAN)

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