By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

In its effort to rid its community of killings, Ihiala community in Anambra State over the weekend banished 11 persons said to be masterminds of cult-related killings and kidnappings in the area.

The town which shares boundary with Imo State has been bedeviled with issues like kidnappings and killings by unknown gunmen, cultists in the past few years, to the point that many residents of the urban town have either fled and relocated to safe neighbouring communities.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the community said it has traced the recent spate of insecurity in the area to mostly cultism and cult-related activities.

In a concerted bid to bring the menace to an end in Ihiala and environs, the leadership has taken concrete steps to see that cultism became a thing of the past in the area, as well as stamp out crime and criminality.

In a statement he issued on Saturday, President-General of Ihiala Progressive Union (IPU), Barrister Okey Leo Ohagba, said that the eleven suspects have been banned for life from setting foot on the community.

He said the names of the eleven persons on the list were arrived at after diligent and unimpeachable intelligence identified them as architects of the cult-related crisis in the community and environs.

The statement reads in part: “After these persons were identified, they refused to make themselves available to security agencies within a period of 48 hours given to them to clear their names and discharge the allegations made against them and another 72 hours grace period given by the community for public renunciation of cultism by repentant cultists.”

Ohagba further said the names and photographs of the identified suspected criminals shall be displayed in various social media platforms and giant billboards to be erected at strategic locations within and around Ihiala for ease of identification.

He advised the parents, guardians or relatives of the cultists that it is in their own interest to provide useful information on the whereabouts of the listed persons to facilitate their apprehension by law enforcement agencies, so as to avoid dire consequences of complicity.

The statement adds: “Any person resident in Ihiala, whether indigene or not, who harbours or seen to be associating with the aforementioned criminals and their cohorts within Ihiala town and environs hereafter, shall be treated as an accomplice by the law enforcement agencies and shall be made to suffer the same consequences/punishment meted out on the criminals.

“It is pertinent to remind the good people of Ihiala Town that in line with the subsisting Anambra State government proscription order on cultism and cult related activities, and in synergy with relevant law enforcement agencies, cultism and cult related activities remains proscribed and banned in Ihiala town.”

Shortly after the statement was released, security operatives arrested one Onyebuchi Igboanusi a.k.a. “H.I.T” from Alatiampom, Ihiala, and one Chukwuka Okoye (Ejemba) alias “Scorpion” from Umuizuogu Ndiezike.

According to the President General, these persons are suspected to be the major masterminds of the mindless killings and kidnappings recorded recently in Ihiala and environs.

“The suspected cultists were on the list of eleven persons earlier declared persona non grata and banished from the community.

“The arrest of these suspected hoodlums by security operatives signals a major breakthrough in the collective quest by the people of Ihiala to frontally combat crime and criminality in the community and environs,” Ohagba stated.