2 people shot, one stabbed as cult groups clash in Delta community

Bomadi____Two people sustained severe bullet wounds with one severally stabbed as two cult groups clashed in Bomadi, headquarters of Bomadi local government area of Delta state.

The incident occurred last night under the Bomadi Bridgehead, popularly called Underbridge or NPA, which is a beehive with beer parlours, restaurants as well as a popular nightclub.

Bomadi youth president, Comrade Ebiwarebo Lucky, who witnessed the incident, said: “The incident occurred few minutes to 10 pm when I heard several gunshots under the bridge, which is very close to my house.

“Later, I found out that it was a clash between two cult groups, Greenlanders and Bobos. From the information at my disposal, they earlier clashed on Sunday night and this was a continuation of the Sunday clash.

“The Greenlanders invaded the spot, a commercial hub with bars and restaurants, shooting sporadically with two persons sustaining fatal gunshots while they stabbed one repeatedly.

“Then, they started looting, snatching people’s phones, ATM cards and cash as they were fleeing the scene. None of the victims is involved in cult activities and they have been rushed to the Bomadi General Hospital.

“The community youths shortly after the incident, launched a manhunt for the leader of Greenlanders to his village, Ogriagbene, but could not get him.

“We’re appealing to the HPM, Bomadi council area, who is overseeing the council area in acting capacity to please re-engage the community vigilante group because the cult boys are armed”.

However, when contacted, the DPO, Bomadi Police Division, Patrick Uebari, said: “of course I heard of such and I’ve sent out my surveillance team.

“The police in this area is really in a sympathetic state, such that if you call stakeholders to put heads together to enable us function better, everybody is paying deaf ear. So, we had to hire vehicles to patrol this town.

“Reliable information was with the person who told you about this incident; the community chairman and the youth president were at the scene when these boys carried out the operation.

“This implies that if they had taken the community assignment seriously, such a thing could not have happened in their presence. Their presence should have been enough to scare these cult boys away.

“Until this moment these people have not called me over the incident as community leaders, but I got information from another source and we’re trying to find out hideouts of these boys”.