Angry mob sets suspected cultist ablaze in Delta

An angry mob burnt a suspected notorious cultist to death on Wednesday in Ekuigbo community, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, barely three days after one suspected cultist was similarly set ablaze in the same community.

The Punch gathered that the suspect simply identified as ‘Pastor’ was alleged to be the leader of the hit team of one of the rival cult groups in Ughelli and environs, and had been responsible for several killings and armed robberies in the locality.

A witness, who would not want his name in print, told journalists that the dreaded cultist, who had been on the wanted list of both the police, military and local vigilante, was killed after his alleged failed attempt to gun down a member of the local community vigilante group.

“They were about three of them that came on a bike looking for the operation member, which I don’t want to mention his name for security reasons. Note that this same boy, after a mob set ablaze one of their members, recently (in Barger) had declared war against our vigilante.

“When they came to the town, they didn’t find them because they had gone on patrol. So, they decided to trace them to where they are. While they went, they met on the way. Immediately, ‘Pastor’ shot three times at the local vigilantes, but the bullet did not penetrate. At this point, they entered their bike and decided to run away.

“But they were chased by both the vigilante and members of the community, who had been alerted by the gunshots. In the process, one of the vehicles chasing them knocked down the bike and they fell down. At this point, they started running on foot. ‘Pastor’ was caught in the process and before you know it, he was set ablaze along with the bike they came with by the mob.”

The Police Public Relations Officer for Delta State Command, Onome Onovwakpoyeya, could not be reached for comments as of the time of filing this report.