George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
A youth, Onumara Chibundu from Obile community in Ohaji Egbema council of Imo State at the weekend escaped being beheaded by cultists following the quick intervention of members of the community.
Our correspondent reliably gathered from village sources that Onumara who was mistaken for a member of a rival cult group, known as Dee Gbam, which was suspected to have murdered a member of the Iceland cult group in Owerri two months ago in August, was dragged from his house to the forest by members of the Ice Islanders cult group to be beheaded.
However, Onumara who was already bound in the forest before his rescue, was about to have his neck severed from the back when some members of the community swoop of them and rescued him and took him to an undisclosed hospital in Owerri.
The incident, it was learnt, was meant to be an ongoing reprisal attack by the members of Iceland cult on members of Dee Gbam.
It was learnt that what had sparked off the reprisal attack on members of the Dee Gbam by their rival Iceland had to do with the alleged killing of a member of the Iceland by persons suspected to members of Dee Gbam in Owerri penultimate week.
Our correspondent gathered that Obile community had been under siege ever since the killing of the cultist by the rival Iceland group who have been attacking members of the Dee Gbam and their family members, a situation which had forced the villagers to flee from their homes to avoid falling victim to the marauding cultists.
One of the community leaders, Kingsley Omuruka, who expressed sadness over cult-related activities in the community, described the incessant rape of women and their female children as sacrilegious and abominable.
He said: “How can a young man of 20 and 21 years rape a woman of 55 years and daughter even in the presence of their husband and father at gun point? These things are sacrilegious and abominable acts.
“This community is in abject poverty. Little children cannot go to school and people cannot go to church because of cult activities. There is no health centre in the community. No roads. The only thing you hear is gun shots and some people are enjoying it.”