Cross River State Police Command have arrested 59 persons suspected to be cult members of the Vikings and Nnabor confraternity.
Fifty – one suspects , who were intercepted at the 8 Miles area of Calabar on their way to Akwa Ibom State , were paraded on Wednesday by the Cross River State Commissioner of Police , Abdulkadir Jimoh .
According to him, the suspects , comprising 46 males and five females, were arrested with three human skulls on Monday , August 17 , 2020 .
Jimoh said , “On Monday , I got information that suspected cultists were driving dangerously, hoisting the black and red flags , and disturbing the peace on the Goodluck Jonathan Road , and driving towards 8 Miles . They were seriously pursued and intercepted at 8 Miles .
“When they were arrested and brought to the headquarters , there were 51 of them . Forty – six are males and five are females. The suspects confessed to be cultists from the Akpabuyo Local Government Area and were on their way to Akwa Ibom State . And when they were searched , three fresh human skulls were recovered from their masquerade regalia .
“Two Hiace buses with number plates KAM 541 XA and XA 668 UGB, two motorcycles , five machetes, and three red flags with human skulls drawn on them were recovered from the suspects . They all confessed to be members of the Nnabor Confraternity and they are the people responsible for the series of kidnapping and other vices in the Akpabuyo Local Government Area , and by extension, some parts of Calabar municipality .
“The command will undertake a forensic analysis of the skulls to determine whether they belong to some of these people that have been declared missing or some of the victims they killed . The suspects have been profiled and they will face the full wrath of the law . ”
One of the suspects , Mike Asuquo, described the items recovered from them as part masquerade regalia .
“I was born to see the regalia from our great – grandparents . I don’ t know anything about the human skulls . We took this masquerade regalia from our community town hall. We rented it from the owner. The masquerade is a tradition of the Efik . We went for a burial at Obot Akara in Akwa Ibom State ,” he stated .
The four suspected members of the Vikings Confraternity were arrested on Sunday and were identified as Peter Henry , Thomas Etta, Ekpo Felix and Ndifreke Obot .
In a related development, five suspected cultists were arrested with a human skull by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Cross River State .
The state Commandant , NSCDC , Mr Danjuma Elisha , while parading the suspects on Wednesday in Calabar , said they were nabbed on Tuesday in the Ogoja Local Government Area of the state .
According to him , the suspects were arrested following a tip -off that suspected cultists from rival groups had a confrontation.
He stated , “On August 18 , 2020 , our attention was drawn to a cult confrontation at No . 50 Mission Road , Igoli , Ogoja .
“Upon arrival at the scene , our men found a human skull and other bones believed to be human bones . The team decided to swiftly pick the items and the persons found within the vicinity for scrutiny .
“Ten persons were picked up and after interrogation , five were identified as having questions to answer in relation to the items found .”
He identified the suspects as Ejesi Akwa , Ugbem Oloko , Francis Ogbeche , Thomas Ajaba and Gabriel Ogbeche , adding that they would be handed over to the police for further investigation and prosecution .
One of the suspects , Akwa , said they had a confrontation with some cultists, who came to attack them in the compound and in the process , the NSCDC officials found the human skull in their compound .
One Patience Effiong -Udo , 26 , was also paraded by the commandant for allegedly trying to sell her nine – year -old daughter at the Bogobiri area of Calabar , while looking for a buyer .
Narrating what led to her arrest , Effiong -Udo said it was when she complained to a prophetess at a church in the Itu -Okon area of Calabar that she had no food to eat that she encouraged her to sell her child , whom she described as a witch.