Bayelsa Police Parade Mostly Teenagers as Cultists and Armed Robbers

The Nigeria Police force in Bayelsa state have paraded a group of twenty-two suspected cultists and armed robbers in the state, most of whom are teenagers.

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The Twenty-two individuals were paraded by the Bayelsa state police command in Yenagoa on Friday.

The police also paraded several suspects allegedly involved with the murder of a 17-year-old student of the Niger Delta University (NDU), Seifeya Fred alongside a police corporal, Sammy Saturday, sometime in November.

According to the Bayelsa state commissioner of police, Joseph Mutan, the suspects were apprehended with the assistance of the state vigilante service and other stakeholders in the state.

The Police commissioner who has just been posted to Bayelsa disclosed that upon careful observation, he discovered that most of the prevalent crimes being committed in the state were linked to cultism.

He therefore urged the cooperation and goodwill of all stakeholders in the state to curb the menace of cultism in for the state to be secure.

He said the command as a counter security measure will no longer wait for the criminals to come out and perpetuate their nefarious activities but will intensify their operations on their hideouts.

“As a counter security measure, we will intensify our operations on the hideouts of armed robbers and cultists. We will continue to carry out targeted raids on criminal hideouts and conduct stop and search operations.” He said.

South-south states of Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Bayelsa have been a hotbed of cult related activities in recent times.

According to reports on several incidents in the states, the menace is not limited to the male sex but females as young as 12 are also involved.

The governments of the affected states have engaged in several measures to curb the menace with varying degrees of success.