Eleven persons alleged to be behind cult-related killings and kidnappings in the Ihiala community, Ihiala local government area of Anambra State, have been banished.
The community, which has borders with Imo State, has been battling insecurity in the past few years, such that many residents of the urban town have fled and relocated to safer areas.
In a statement, the President-General of the Ihiala Progressive Union, IPU, Barrister Okey Leo Ohagba, listed some of the people banished.
According to the statement, after the individuals were identified, they refused to make themselves available to security agencies within a period of 48 hours given to them to clear their names.
They also failed to surrender within another 72-hour grace period given by the community for the public renunciation of cultism by repentant cultists.
Ohagba said the names and photographs of the identified suspected criminals will be displayed on various social media platforms and billboards to be erected at strategic locations within and around Ihiala for ease of identification.
“Any person resident in Ihiala, whether indigene or not, who harbours or is seen to be associating with the aforementioned criminals and their cohorts within Ihiala town and environs hereafter shall be treated as an accomplice by the law enforcement agencies and shall be made to suffer the same consequences and punishment meted out to the criminals.
“It is pertinent to remind the good people of Ihiala town that, in line with the subsisting Anambra State government proscription order on cultism and cult-related activities, and in synergy with relevant law enforcement agencies, cultism and cult-related activities remain proscribed and banned in Ihiala town,” the statement concluded.
