Lifeless bodies of no fewer than eight young men was on Monday morning found by residents in a pit at Obibi community in Etche local government area of Rivers State.
Obibi community have been under the control of a suspected cult group, Deygbam Cult group, since the year 2014, thereby making it a ghost town.
However, residents of neighbouring communities, who woke up to find the lifeless bodies that were dumped in the burrow pit, located in the boundary between Agbalu village and Umuokom village in Obibi community could not confirm whether it was security agents or cultists that carried out the killings.
While some believe it was either men of the Nigerian Army or the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian Police, others insisted that it was members of the cult group that carried out that killings.
A resident of a neighbouring community who spoke to LEADERSHIP said, “We woke up on Monday morning and saw eight bodies littered between Agbalu community and Umukom community, all in Etche local government area. I mean dead bodies of eight young men. Nobody knows the source of their killing, but some people are saying it is the soldiers, who are combing the communities in search of cultists, that shot the young men and killed them.’’
When contacted, the deputy director, Army Public Relations, 2 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, Captain Eli Lazarus, denied the involvement of soldiers in the killings.
However, efforts to get the police public relations officer (PPRO) in the state, Ahmad Kidaya Muhammad, a deputy superintendent of Police (DSP) to react to the incident proved abortive as he did not reply text messages or call sent to him.
(Source: LEADERSHIP)