By Iruoma Douglas, Port Harcourt
Hundreds of women from Owube community in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State have cried out against rape and attacks by suspected cultists, lamenting that the hoodlums have stopped them from assessing their farmlands.
The angry women who protested to the Government House, Port Harcourt and State Police Headquarters on Moscow Road, decried incessant rape of their women by the cultists.
They disclosed that the hoodlums are demanding for a huge amount of money before they could allegedly allow them freedom.
The women therefore urged the Governor of the State, Nyesom Wike and the Commissioner of Police to intervene in the matter, noting that they can no longer go to their farms because of the attacks.
Mrs Florence Eric said: “Cult boys in our community do not allow us to go to our farms again. At night they use to come and cause troubles. We do not sleep again. We don’t have rest.
“They kidnap at will. We cannot go out to look for food. We need help to survive this challenge. We want the government to help us in any way they can”.
She noted that the act was perpetrated by cultists within the community, adding that the cultists have stopped them from going to their farms.
“It is cult boys within our community joining hands with their friends from outside that are behind this. They barred us from gong to far again.
“They said we should come and settle them and we don’t know how to settle them. They said they need money from the community but they did t mention how much they need”, she added.
Also, a male native of the community, Mr Franco Confidence, noted that the reason for the protest was for the community to submit petition officially to the government and the police on the insecurity in their community.
He said: “We came to submit petition to the governor over the incessant killings in our community. For over five years now we don’t sleep in the community. People now sleep in the bushes.
“We have done all we can to restore peace in our community, but it has not yield any positive result. We have submitted petition to the out gone Commissioner of Police in the state and the Ahoada West Local Government chairman but nothing changed.
“We still have high level of insecurity. We brought OSPAC, who come at night, but now these boys come in the afternoon to kidnap and rape women.
“We want the governor to come to our aid we are tired of sleeping in the bush. If they will give us police post we will like it”.