Four killed in Nigerian community as cultists fight over revenue source

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Four people have been confirmed dead from Easter Sunday’s attack by suspected cultists on the Swali community in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that several residents of the community were injured in the attack.

A resident told NAN on Tuesday that the assailants wore masks.

The resident said the assailants arrived at midnight in a Toyota Hilux truck armed with AK-47 rifles and shot indiscriminately at the residents.

A source told NAN that two rival cult groups, the Greenlanders and Bobos, have been in a supremacy battle over control of the revenue from a market.

Ayibanegiyefa Egba, a member representing Yenagoa Constituency 1 in the Bayelsa House of Assembly, has condemned the attack.

Mr Egba, who visited the community on Tuesday, said, “This attack is brutal. I condole with the families of those who have lost loved ones.

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“I called on all the residents to be united and vigilant in the face of this incident. I call on the youths to shun external influences and vices that can truncate their lives.”

Musa Mohammed, the police spokesperson in Bayelsa, who confirmed the attack to NAN, said security has been beefed up to restore normalcy in the community.

“Normalcy has returned to the community and security measures have been put in place to ensure no further breakdown of law and order or destruction of lives and property,” Said Mr Mohammed, a deputy superintendent of police.