Rivers govt accuses Governor Okorocha of shielding wanted cultist

The Rivers State Government has accused the Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, of shielding one of the 32 cultists recently declared wanted by the Rivers State Security Council.

The state government gave the name of the cultist as Emenike Agamu, otherwise known as General Red Scorpion.


He is said to have been involved in the gruesome killing of 17 people on the New Year Day in Omoku, Rivers State.

The Rivers government, through its Commissioner for Justice, Emmanuel Aguma, said in a statement issued on Tuesday that the wanted cultist, Mr. Agamu, alongside other cultists, surrendered their weapons at Owerri, Imo State.

They were said to have been received by Governor Okorocha who reportedly said, “The state has forgiven them and will subsequently give their names to the Federal Government for Amnesty.”

The commissioner said Governor Wike has now been vindicated for the alarm he raised a few weeks ago that the All Progressives Congress, APC, were planning to recruit the wanted cultists into their party with the intention of using them during the 2019 election.

The commissioner said, “The Governor of Imo State has no constitutional power to grant amnesty to any person for an offence committed in Rivers State; Governor Okorocha can only grant amnesty with regard to offences ‘created’ by the House of Assembly of Imo State.”

”Also, President Muhammadu Buhari cannot grant amnesty to the wanted cultist, going by the Nigerian Constitution,” he said.

Rivers government said Mr. Agamu and others remained wanted persons in the state.

“Governor Okorocha in his own words merely forgave them – an act that is biblical but has no place in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.

“The security agencies are advised to disregard the whole ceremony in Owerri as a legally ineffective charade.

“The security agencies can arrest these criminals anywhere they are found for the purpose of their being brought to trial in Rivers State,” the state government said.

Johnson Igwedibia, the mastermind of the Rivers killings, and his younger brother, Oluchi Igwedibia, were tracked down and killed in January outside the state by a combined force of the State Security Service, SSS, and the army.

Six more members of the gang were also killed by the nation’s security agency in January.

When contacted, the spokesperson to Governor Okorocha, Sam Onwuamaodo, said that, ”there was no need to respond to the statement from the Rivers government.”