No fewer than five more persons have been killed in Calabar,
the Cross River State capital, following the assassination of a lecturer in the
Department of Accounting, University of Calabar, Dr Emmanuel Igbeng.
This is just as the clan head of Oku-Borum-Njuo ward in the
Boki Local Government Area of the state, Chief Bernard Nku, on Monday sustained
machete cut injuries following protests by youths over the control of Oil Palm
Estate in Borum.
The PUNCH had reported on Monday that last Thursday’s
assassination of Igbeng had led to a renewed hostility between two rival cults
in the state, the KKK and Vikings.
As of Sunday afternoon, no fewer than seven other persons
had been killed within four days. However, the latest killings brought the
total number of casualties to 13.
A resident of Nsemo Street in Calabar, Ucheson Mark, told
our correspondent on Monday that a barber in the neighbourhood was shot dead at
about 8am.
“I am sure he is one of the cultists because the gunmen just
entered his shop and killed him without taking anything from him. We now leave
in fear,” he said.
Another source said another suspected cult member was killed
at about 10am on the premises of the University of Calabar by unidentified
gunmen.
The source said one other person was shot dead along Eta
Agbor Road in the Calabar Municipality LGA, while another died of bullet injury
on Sunday on White House Street in the Calabar-South area.
He said, “The Sunday killings occurred on White House
Street, where two people were shot dead. On Monday on Eta Agbo Road, a young
man was killed while another was killed at the UNICAL main campus.”
On the Boki crisis, a trader, Nicodemus Adim, said the clan
head was one of the proponents of the take-over of the oil estate by a new
group of politicians, allegedly controlled by a prominent figure in the
Governor Ben Ayade-led administration.
He said a police van which conveyed security operatives to
the scene was seized by irate youths and about five policemen were injured
during the crisis.
When contacted on the issue of the raging cult war in
Calabar, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Irene Ugbo, who could not
confirm the number of deaths, said at least five persons had been arrested in
connection with cult activities.
On the Boki crisis, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr.
Hafiz Inuwa, confirmed that five policemen were injured.
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