The Ebonyi Government in its bid to totally eradicate cultism in the state, has taken its campaign against the deadly menace to secondary schools.
Chief Chika Nwangele, the Special Adviser to the Gov. David Umahi on Internal Security (South), told the News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abakaliki, that the campaign would be holistic.
Nwangele said that students in schools such as the Urban Model Secondary School and Okpaugwu Abakaliki, Holy Ghost Secondary School, Abakaliki among others across the state would be enlightened on the dangers of cultism.
“During this campaign, we discovered that most cultists, especially students are not actually happy or comfortable to be cult members.
“Many of them admitted to have joined these deadly groups due to group or friendship influences characterised with indulgence in hard drugs consumption and other indecent behaviours.
“We discovered that secondary schools are the breeding grounds of these nefarious groups as students are indoctrinated to join them without knowing the consequences,” he said.
The special adviser said that his office’s collaboration with the police and other security agencies had yielded fruits with the anti-cultism message spreading to the desired destinations.
“This campaign has resulted in the genuine repentance and denouncement of cultism by over 2, 000 indigenes of the state, mostly youths.
“Most of the repentant cultists denounced in churches and receive spiritual edification not to rejoin such groups but be useful in life.
“We know the essence of God’s divine touch on such persons as it is only an abnormal individual that would decide to kill another person in the name of cultism,” he said.
He said that the various empowerment schemes of the state government had assisted youths to be gainfully employed and not resort to vices such as cultism, armed robbery and kidnapping among others to earn their living.
“This campaign is in conformity with the state governor’s grace to cultists to repent and denounce association of such groups before being faced with punitive measures.
“We are also collaborating with the state government’s floated security outfit — the Neigbourhood Security Watch — to stem incidences of crimes in the bud.
“We will soon start impounding motorcycles and vehicles which operate without number plates because they aid criminals in perpetrating their dastardly acts of child-theft and trafficking and kidnapping, among others,” he said.
