Some women have fled from Urualla Waterfront Community in Mile 1 Diobu, Port Harcourt, following cases of armed robbery and rape by suspected cultists, National Network has gathered.
A female resident of the community who did not want her name to be in print for security reasons explained that about ten women who narrowly escaped being raped by hoodlums after they were robbed last week are the latest to have fled the area.
The resident explained that the hoodlums ordered the ladies to strip naked after robbing them of their valuables. She revealed that the ladies had stripping themselves naked when a vehicle blaring siren drove along the street very close to the waterfront which made the robbers abandon the mission of raping their victims and took to their heels as they thought it was police.
She stated that after the incident so many ladies left the community for fear of further attacks.
Investigations by National Network indicate that the security situation at the community worsened after the Chief Security Officer who is said to be the head of vigilante group was arrested by the Police for an alleged crime against the state. The other members of the vigilante group were said to have stopped work as the person piloting the affairs of the group is still in police net.
We learned the hoodlums cashed on the security lapses and reportedly launched incessant attacks especially on women.
Some other residents of the community also confirmed the incident to our reporter who visited the area. The Rivers State Police Command was yet to comment on the matter as the spokesperson of the command; Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Omoni Nnamdi was yet to respond to text messages sent to his mobile line to ascertain if the command had gotten reports of such incident.
It would be recalled that in March 2019, so many women at Afikpo waterfront in Mile 1 Diobu were reportedly raped by armed robbers who attack led the community frequently.
The incident resulted to formation of vigilante group with supervision of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Mile 1 Divisional Police Headquarters that led to an end in the incident in the community.
At press time, the community has called for emergency meeting to deliberate on the way forward.
