From Ben Dunno, Warri
Residents of Ovwian-Aladja, Usiefurun, Mofor, Orunwohrun, and its environs, all in Udu Local Government Area of Delta State, have decried the senseless killings of innocent victims in the on-going supremacy cult wars in the area.
The terrified residents have also applauded the suspension of Mofor Unit Exco of Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) led by one Comrade Efe, currently in police custody over December 30, 2021, killings of three (3) persons at the park.
Daily Sun investigations have revealed that most residents who could no longer hide their apprehension over the series of attacks and counter-attacks that had been recorded in the area within a space of two weeks have expressed concern over the safety of their lives and property if the ugly trend continued unabated.
Speaking, a Commercial Motorbike operator, popularly known as ‘Okada’ plying Mofor Junction to the township, who gave his name as Matthew Onoriode, said he had followed the incidents that accumulated in the bloody attack at Mofor Motor Park for a while and blamed the members of the suspended RTEAN Exco for the lapses that caused the death of three (3) innocent residents.
According to him, “When some members of a particular cult group launched an attack on December 17 2021, at Orunwohrun town where one person was killed, the story was that the invasion was a reprisal attack following the reported assault carried out on the son of the suspended Secretary of the Mofor Park Unit who was sent on an errand by his father”.
“When we got this information we were all worried because we knew that when one group Invades the territory of another group to carry out an attack that recorded casualty there must be a reprisal at the invader territory, especially when the report indicated an official of the Motor Park mastermind it”.
“The dust had barely settled on this, when we heard again that the same cult group had launched another attack on December 22, 2021, in Orunwohorun community again. This time, killing two (2) persons including a Vigilante, and the same story was that the attackers mobilise from the Mofor axis”, he stated.
Continuing: “We were expecting that the Mofor Park Unit Exco would be pro-active in arranging solid security within the vicinity of the Motor Park to protect the lives of people who take vehicles from the Park, but that was not considered until the incident of December 30, 2021, when the park came under the attack of the opposing cult group who were on a revenge mission “.
“Three (3) innocent persons were victims of that invasion and it’s so sad that innocent residents would have to pay the supreme prize for the negligence of the Mofor Motor Unit Exco led by Hon. Efe that ought to know that cult groups do not give up on revenge missions, especially when the lives of their members were lost in the attack.
Another resident, Mr Philip Oghenesive, a businessman who claimed to have lived in Udu for more than 25years now, said: “I want to commend the Delta state leadership of the RTEAN for the suspension of the Motor Unit Exco aftermath the December 30, bloody invasion that took innocent souls”.
“I have been using that park for more than 10years but under the reign of the suspended leadership we have been seeing strange faces who converged there drinking and playing music like its a party arena and this is not ideal for a park, especially in a volatile area like Udu Council area”, he concluded.