Nemesis has finally caught up with members of a deadly cult gang that killed three students of the Abia State University, Uturu, (ABSU) with two of the victims beheaded on March 12, 2016.
Four cult members that participated in the evil mission were yesterday paraded by the Department of State Services (DSS) after two months of “painstaking investigation” that led to their arrest.
The state Director of DSS, Mr. Korede Kamoju, who paraded the suspects at government house Umuahia, said the suspects were members of the Burkina Faso cult group, who “planned and executed the deadly operation” at Chido Lodge, an off campus hostel where their victims resided.
The paraded suspects included Chikezie MacDonald (a.k.a Walking Dutch), 22; Chidozie Obi (a.k.a Small Boy), 21; Chukwuemeka Awom (a.k.a Archangel), 25; and Chigozie Francis Eberendu (a.k.a Star Boy), 23.
In the deadly attack on the victims, who were members of the Maphite cult group, the suspects killed Ebuka Nwaigbo and Samuel Ethelbert Chuka and beheaded them, took the severed heads and used them to mount goal posts in the lawn outside the university gate.
The third victim and member of the Vikings cult group, Isaac Chigozirim, who was shot and wounded in the operation, later died in the hospital on March 18.
“The suspects who confessed to the crime, narrated how the attack was planned and hatched,” said the DSS state director, adding that MacDonald who is the current capon of Burkina Faso cult group in Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU) supplied the gun used in the operation.
Kamoju said the confession of the suspects revealed that the killing of the ABSU students was “a reprisal attack to avenge the death of Collins Agwu Kalu (a.k.a Biggy) a 400 Level student of Microbiology, ABSU, who was the leader of Burkina Faso.
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, who witnessed the parading of the suspects, lauded the state command of DSS for the “wonderful investigation” which resulted to the nabbing of the deadly cultists.
He vehemently condemned the activities of the cultists, whom he described as “very fierce and heartless people” adding that the operation they carried out on March 12 “represented how far our society has degenerated in disrespect for human life.”
The governor, who was visibly angry with the suspects, noted that they represented every genre of criminality including kidnapping, armed robbery and fetish practices.
“They represent everything that is evil in the society,” he said, adding that anybody capable of shooting and beheading the victim and using the head as goal posts has gone beyond human limits.
Ikpeazu vowed that the suspects would be made to face the music and used to set good example to others who are involved in cult activities.
He said: “It is our duty to make sure they (suspects) are not allowed to return to the society. The fight against crime is ongoing (and) we will not rest until we battle them to a standstill.”
The suspects, who were interviewed by journalists, admitted involvement in the planning and execution of the deadly operation at ABSU for which they were arrested.