Jesse boils again, 5 allegedly killed in a renewed cult war, residents desert communities 

A renewed cult war has left no fewer than 5 persons dead in Jesse, Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State, in what the Delta State police has confirmed as a cult related crisis.

 

The current crisis which started over on Friday night, Advocate.ng gathered that led to the killing of four youths were allegedly killed at Boboroku and Irodo communities in Jesse kingdom, while the other person, an Okada rider was shot dead along the road on Sunday night.

 

Community sources told our reporter that, the current war may not be unconnected to a battle of supremacy between two rival cult groups,  “but this killing was something else, two of the five people who were killed were vigilante and an Okada rider”.

 

Another resident of Jesse said “it was becoming a monthly thing, it’s always cult killing or another involved in this issue, youths are gradually being cut down in their prime and we want action on this” he said in tears, refusing to reveal his name fear of being victimised.

 

“Its a cult related matter, my brother, and we are doing everything to curb it, as I talk to you, security is on ground, and we have restored sanity is in that area,” Delta state Police spokesman, Edafe Bright said, when contacted on phone.

 

Sometime last year, the Monarch of Idjerhe kingdom, His Royal Majesty, King Monday Obukowho Whiskey (JP), had poured libation to the gods placing curse on suspected cultists and crime perpetrators in the community after the people lamented the growing cases of death as a result of cultism and internet fraud.

 

These efforts seem to not have yielded the desired results, as cult-related killing has become a new normal in Jesse Kingdom, no week goes by without crisis related to cult activities.

 

While the security agencies in the local seem overwhelmed in tackling the ugly trend, a police source told Advocate.ng that security agencies are handicapped because, “the boys involved in these cult wars have political godfathers, hence the police have not been able to effect any arrest since the mindless killing started over a year ago.

 

“One of the victims of the recent killing is a loyalist of a prominent politician from the local government, so, we don’t want to join in their fight,” he added.