9th March, 2015
Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
Unknown gunmen were on shooting spree over the weekend killing at least four persons in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.
The incident suspected to be a cult clash occurred along Eastern-Bypass area of Marine Base, Port Harcourt.
It occurred few hours before five persons were allegedly killed on Saturday night, along a popular hotel in Oroworukwo community in D/Line, in the state capital.
It was gathered that the assailants, suspected to be members of a cult group, invaded a restaurant close to the bridge along the road and shot dead four persons, while others sustained bullet wounds.
An eyewitness account said the corpses were carried away by policemen, who arrived at the scene shortly after the bandits had escaped.
Elsewhere, it was learnt the abducted woman is wife of a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers. The woman was abducted about 1:30 p.m., in Echue Street, Mile 2, Diobu axis of Port Harcourt, by unidentified armed men.
It was gathered that the victim was returning from a church service when she was abducted by suspected commercial kidnappers in her Sports Utility Vehicle.
According to the source, the suspects escaped through Echue waterfront with the woman into the creeks, with a motorised fibre (‘speed boat’), after police gave them a chase, forcing them to abandon the car.
Ahmad Muhammad, the Rivers Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, merely said that information on the incidents were sketchy.