Eleven people have reportedly been banished by the Ihiala town leadership in Anambra State on suspicion of being involved in cult-related murders and kidnappings in the area.
The town, which shares borders with Imo State, has been experiencing such high levels of insecurity in recent years that a large number of its citizens have left and moved to safer locations.
Barrister Okey Leo Ohagba, the President-General of the Ihiala Progressive Union, or IPU, named a few of the exiles in a statement.
The statement claims that the people declined to provide themselves to security authorities within the 48-hour window that was provided to them to clear their names after they were identified.
They also failed to surrender under the community’s additional 72-hour grace period for repentant cultists to publicly renounce cultism.
Ohagba stated that the names and images of the identified suspected criminals will be broadcast on various social media platforms, as well as billboards in key areas around Ihiala for ease of identification.
“Any person resident in Ihiala, whether indigene or not, who harbors 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/punishment meted out on the criminals.
“It is pertinent to remind the good people of Ihiala town that in line with the subsisting Anambra State government prescription order on cultism and cult-related activities, and synergy with relevant law enforcement agencies, cultism, and cult-related activities remain proscribed and banned in Ihiala town,” the statement said.
