Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Rivers State, Senator Magnus Abe, has promised to review the state anti-cultism law if elected as governor of the state.
He said the current anti-cultism law in the state has only succeeded in increasing the number of cult groups existing in the state.
Abe spoke at the 30th Ogoni day celebration, which was held at the Birabi Memorial Grammar School, Bori, headquarters of Khana LGA.
“For years, we have been searching for this security in Rivers State and we have been using the same style; buying guns, armoured cars, pushing people, passing laws. Are we safer? No!
“In 2023, we are going to try something different. We will continue to do the things we have been doing but we are going to open a new dialogue on security. We are going to review the anti-cultism law because we have seen that, that law has increased the number of cults and has made us more unsafe than it has worked in our favour.
“So, we will review it and be able to do things differently. Let’s try a new approach. So, security is going to be multidimensional, especially the social aspect of security. In our villages today, the children have nothing to do. Have you heard that the idle hand (mind) is the devil’s workshop?
“We have so many things that we can use to engage our youth. We can engage them with traffic duties, extra-moral classes in the communities; we can bring those graduates that are idle at home and pay them something to be going to the school in the evening to teach the other children.
“How much will that cost the government? Not much, but will engage both those who are teaching and those who are been taught,” he stated.