Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the Rivers
State Police Command, has arrested one Emmanuel Jeremiah, 22, who is reported
to be a member of Dey Bam cult in Ebubu community, had been at large since the
killing of the youth leader, William Adantha Samora, in 2013. His other cult
members whose names were given as Asegoo, Nnanna, Parass, Sky Bee, Slim Body,
Philip and Mba, led by a young man, simply called Mopol, were arrested after
the incident and charged to Magistrates’ Court 2, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
They had since been remanded in prison custody.
Reports' findings revealed that Jeremiah and his cult
group members were at a burial ceremony in their community called Ebubu on the
fateful day when the deceased, who was also the vice president of youths in the
community, hit one Ogoni boy, a member of Dey Bam cult group, with his vehicle.
The Dey Bam cult group members were said to have been
upset at the death of one of them and had held an emergency meeting where it
was decide that they would deal with the vice president that very night. The
Vice President of Youth allegedly belonged to the Iceland cult group.
At about 10 p.m. same day, after the meeting, it was
learnt, the Dey Bam cult members proceeded to Samora’s house where they met him
eating. After surrounding his house, one of the cult members shot the youth
leader in the head through the window. Immediately, after the shooting, they
rushed into his house and inflicted machete cuts on him. A police source
informed Crime Reports that Jeremiah was with a machete on the fateful day and
was believed to have inflicted the machete cuts on the deceased.
Jeremiah opened up on his involvement in the case: “I joined Dey Bam cult in 2005. I was just 12
years old. I was lured into joining the cult. I went to my community to spend
holiday, not knowing that some of the young boys were making plans to make me
join their cult group. They told me they liked me and wanted to be my friends.
They said I should come close to them but I refused. They noticed that I
distanced myself from them and threatened me.
“They later used a friend of mine, Branson, to lure me to
a party. Branson is also known as Papa. Before I knew what was happening, they
had brought out knives, axes and guns and threatened to kill me if I did not
cooperate with them, saying that nobody would know my whereabouts.
“They asked me to pull off my clothes, except my boxers.
They blindfolded me and asked me to lie down. They started beating me, shot at
the ground and also broke bottle on the ground. They did incantations and
poured libation. That was how I became a member.
“After this, I did not move very close to them because my
father was a strict and disciplined man.”
Giving an account of what happened the day the vice
president was killed, Jeremiah said: “When Samora made his intention known that
he wanted to lead the youths in Ebube community to curb the problem that
existed, youths supported him, irrespective of the cult group they belonged to,
though he was a known Iceland man.
“But to our surprise, he started being partial. Anytime
his cult members came to the community to foment trouble, he would keep mum and
would not caution them. If it was any other group, he would inform the police
and those caught would be charged to court and sent to prison.
“On the day of the incident, we were at a burial. The
deceased belonged to us because she was grandmother to one of our members. We were there celebrating when we saw that
people started running. While we wondered what was happening, we saw Samora’s
group approaching our gathering. We learnt that one of our invited guests was
hit by the vice president and he died. That was how the celebration was brought
to an abrupt end as everyone fled.
“Knowing that there was likely to be a reprisal, Samora’s
men started shooting sporadically that we had to retreat so that none of us
would be hit. My own cult group led by Mopol held a meeting and we decided to
invade Samora’s house.
“We went there at about 10 a.m., and met him eating with
one of his friends. One of us shot him. Though I had a cutlass, I was not bold
enough to use it on him, so someone did the job until we saw that he was dead.
His friend was also hit by bullet and he died too.
“After Samora’s death, his group came out and started
looking for those who killed their leader. They killed three people, including
one native doctor, whom they accused of doing juju for Dey Bam members, and two
others. I ran to my uncle’s place in Enugu State to escape the group’s wrath. I
came back to Ebubu in December, 2014 and I was arrested.”
Jeremiah revealed that he fell out of
favour with his father because of the wife he married after his mother’s death.
“The woman started maltreating me and my sister and my father used to listen to
whatever she told him.
“I ran away but later returned. The woman did not accept
me back and my father also joined her by calling my mother a witch, saying he
didn’t know why he married my mother. That was why I sought solace among my
friends.”
The suspect also admitted taking marijuana but said “e no
too tey” (it was just a short while back).
Confirming the arrest, the Police Public Relations
Officer in Rivers State, Muhammadu Ahmad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police,
said that the suspect would be charged to court after the completion of
investigation.
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