3 die as cultists clash in Calabar
Three cult members have been butchered in a deadly supremacy war in Calabar.
It was gathered that the two groups identified as the Maphite and the Vikings, have been at logger heads on different occasions and have been attacking each other at every given opportunity until the clash got to a head, leading to the death of the three and many others getting injured in the process.
According to the reports, trouble started on Wednesday, June 8, at about 1pm, a top member of the Vikings, identified as Emmanuel Actor, was trailed and murdered by the rival Maphite group on Palm Street in the Calabar South area.
It was learnt that Actor, who was in control of issuing of tickets to commercial tricycle operators along Nelson Mandela Street, went to an area controlled by the rival group on Egerton Street and stabbed a key opponent in an attempt to expand his territory.
The Maphite group was said to have immediately regrouped and trailed Actor to the spot he was killed, brought out from his tricycle and hacked to death.
The group reportedly started shooting sporadically along major business routes in Calabar South, which forced traders to shut down business activities.
It was further gathered that another Vikings member was killed on Etta-Agbor Road, while the clash, which continued till Thursday, also claimed the life of another unidentified cultist on Richard Henshaw Street by Edibe-Edibe Road.
The murdered Emmanuel Actor
Photo Credit: CrossRiverWatch
But the Special Adviser to the Governor on Department of Public Transport, Gabriel Okulaja, debunked any link with the agencies involved in issuance of tickets to tricycle riders with cultists.
Also Read: "Gruesome Murder: 14-yr-old boy stabbed to death for refusing to join cult group in Calabar"
Okulaja also denied knowledge of the existence of groups issuing tickets to commercial tricycle operators, pointing out that touts had constituted themselves as collection agents in Calabar-South without remitting any funds to the approved agents.
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