Police Vows Crackdown On Criminals As It Loses Cop To Cultists Clash In Edo

The Edo State Police Command has vowed to put an end to the spate of cultist killings in the state.

This is just as a personnel of the command lost his life during an anti-cultism operation in the Ugbowo axis on December 24, 2023.

Reacting to a series of killings by suspected rival cult groups in Benin, the police in a statement by its Public Relations Officer, Chidi Nwabuzor, on Tuesday, said the command was doing everything within its power to restore peace and order.

Earlier, Hilary Odia, a broadcaster with Independent Television and Radio and a vigilante commander were killed in cult clashes.

Nwabuzor also said the state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed  Dankwara, has urged residents of the state to remain calm and go about their Christmas celebration, assuring them of safety of lives and property.

The statement partly read, “The Edo State Police Command wishes to inform the general public, particularly the good people of Edo State that the command is aware of the secret cult fighting and the killings in the state mostly in the Benin metropolis in the recent times that took the lives of innocent citizens particularly that of Mr Hillary Nosa Odia, a staff member of Independent Television and Radio, Benin City.

“The command is sincerely and vigorously fighting this crime and wishes to put it to an end for the state to be peaceful for all.

“Its efforts in fighting against secret cult members or to stop the killings are shown in the loss of one of its personnel during operation in the Ugbowo axis on December 24, 2023.

The police added that “a sizeable number of arrests of the secret cult members of various cult groups have been made in different locations in the state and will soon be charged to court for prosecution.”