Three persons were killed on Wednesday night by gunmen suspected to be cultists at Ubeta community in Ahoada-West local government area of Rivers State.
The ugly development happened barely 72 hours after two shop owners in the community were kidnapped by yet-to-be indentified gunmen.
Paramount ruler of Ubeta community, Chief Million Jonathan, confirmed the killing of the three persons during an interview with journalists in Port Harcourt.
Jonathan, who stated that not all the three persons killed were cultists, explained that the two shop owners who were kidnapped were neigbours.
He said uptill Thursday, the kidnappers were yet to make contact with the community or family members of the kidnap victims.
The traditional ruler claimed that the incident has been happening for months now without intervention of the government, pointing out that many natives have deserted the community.
Jonathan stated that some of the youth perpetrating the act sworn an oath to turn new leaves before now but they were surprised that some of them went back to their old ways.
He maintained that the community was willing to train any of the warring youths in skill acquisition if the person shuns criminality.
He called on the government to come to the community’s aid.
Spokesperson for the Rivers State Police Command, Grace IringeKoko, when contacted, said no official report has been made to the Police on the incident.
