Not many will come out and party at night as it used to be in most parts of the Niger Delta region. Night party and wake keeping used to an avenue for all round dancing and grooving to forget the sorrows of losing a loved one and to celebrate a life well spent for the aged ones. The tradition then was to invite family and friends from far and near so that they could "jollificate" with their friends. These days not much is heard of such gatherings. Social life in most of Port Harcourt, Warri, Yenagoa up to Benin is almost none existent. The reason is not far fetched; cult related violence and criminality.
In the last few months after the re-run elections in Port Harcourt constituency III, cult gangs supported by the security agencies reigned supreme. Violence was unleashed at any perceived enemies of the political thugs masquerading as Politicians. The youths who should be more angry at those who give them pittance to wield guns rarely see beyond their noses and the tools they carry. Open display of guns has become the order of the day, no one is spared in the attacks that come without warning. The government seem helpless and complain of the lack of support from the FG who hold the aces to send security agents.
In October 2018, two women were separately gunned down in cult related violence. One was pregnant with a child and happened to fall to the bullets of the assassins aiming to kill a rival cult gang member. I almost cried when I saw the lifeless body of the woman (Mrs. Luck Ufon) because just the day before i passed by her small scale retail shop and said hello! She was not feeling too well and could only muster "good morning". Little did I realize that was the last time I would be seeing her alive. It is a pity that many innocent people have been felled by the bullets of this unconscionable assassins.
Even our primary schools have not been left out of the violence, earlier this year the Bayelsa State Police command announced that a young primary school boy was caught with a locally made pistol. This brings me to the question of how did the young man get hold of a weapon prohibited for even adults? Parents have a lot of work to do in order to forestall this ugly incidents.
The State Government should do more than shout, the laws are there to prosecute and the security agents must act to bring the culprits to book. Taking bribe monies and illegal bails will not help anyone. The security agencies must realise that their colleagues have been victims of this criminal enterprise and their children are not safe in the streets.
Our courts should do more than remand the culprits in custody. Sentences for such crimes must be implemented so as to discourage others who see this as a means of livelihood. The Police must live up to its calling by arresting and prosecuting offenders, anything outside of this is a slap on the wrist that will take us back to the days of militancy and mass violence.
Civil Society organisations must begin the process of running sensitization programmes on every available media. The government should prioritize job creation and youth empowerment so as to return the idle youths to more productive ventures. Investments in education should be encouraged, an educated mind would find it very difficult to indulge in the kind of criminality that we are experiencing.
Community elders should take it as part of their responsibility to stop shielding cult groups. if measures are not put in place to forestall the upsurge in cult activities, we will all suffer in the long run.
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