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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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Rivers unfolds new measures to curb violence, cultism
FRESH measures to curb cultism and gangsterism have been announced by the Rivers State government.
Under the dispensation, anyone who hides or allows a cult meeting to hold in his house will be prosecuted as an accomplice.
The measures have been legalised by the Anti-Cult Law. To acquaint members with the provisions of the law, the state government plans to give each resident a copy.
This new approach was disclosed by Governor Peter Odili at the end of a fasting and prayer interdenominational service organised by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for the restoration of peace to the state. Odili declared that there would be no hiding place for cultists because they have sinned against God and Rivers people.
"If a cult member is hiding in your house or holding meeting in your premises, know that you are an accomplice and by the Anti-Cult Law, you shall have no option of fine if you are caught and convicted," he said.
He commended Christians in the state for standing by the government in prayers and fasting, emphasising that any citizen of the state, who allows himself to be used as an agent of darkness, to harm innocent persons, would pay the price that God would impose on him.
After calling for a minute of silence in honour of innocent souls lost in the fighting, Odili praised President Olusegun Obasanjo for his response to the request for increased security in the state.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state has disagreed with the view expressed by the commissioners of information from Bayelsa, Delta and Akwa Ibom States that Governor Odili accused his colleagues of fuelling the crisis in some parts of the state.
The PDP said it was satisfied with the concrete measures adopted by the state government to contain the tide of cultism, gangsterism and guerrilla warfare in some parts of the state. It urged all men of goodwill to join hands with the government to tackle the menace posed by the gangsters, who unleash terror on the people within and outside the state.
In a statement, the state (PDP) Publicity Secretary, Mr. B. K. Amadi, after an emergency executive committee meeting said the party had resolved that the commissioners of the three states erred for not clarifying issues where they were in doubt before rushing to the press.
According to him, though Odili said some of the criminal gangs were being sponsored from outside the state but at no time did he link the governors of Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Delta to the crime.
"It therefore beats our imagination why anyone would want to imagine himself being referred to in that statement. They should not constitute part of the problem," said Amadi.
The meeting also condemned the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) governorship candidate in the 2003 election, Chief Sergeant Awuse, for reducing the crisis in the state to politics, a view diametrical to the PDP's classification of the acts vandalism.
"The PDP urges the security agencies to hold Chief Awuse and his colleagues in the ANPP responsible for any act that shall further deteriorate the security situation through their unguarded utterances. Also, he and his fellow co-travellers in the ANPP should stop forthwith in pointing accusing fingers at other democratic institutions," said Amadi.
He enjoined all politicians to emulate the members of the Coalition of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) in the state, which had made it clear that the situation was not politically motivated and that nobody stands to score any political gain from it.
The PDP equally called on all peace loving people of the state to go about their normal duties.
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