Before now, Bayelsa state was under siege by the cultists. Locked in a supremacy battle, members of rival cult groups turned the state, especially its capital, Yenagoa, to a killing field.
Staccato of gunshots were a regular feature of daily life in Yenagoa. It was common to see people running in different directions to escape from a sudden violent scene created by cultists.
Gun-wielding and machete-carrying youths overran the city at night and in broad daylight and mowed down their rivals with impunity.
Each day, a group of armed youths raided pubs, beer parlours, eateries and other relaxation centres and killed their perceived enemies including innocent fun-seekers.
September 2011, was particularly bloody in the state. It recorded a harvest of deaths. No day passed without stories of violent skirmishes. In fact, within one week in September, about 11 persons were reported killed at different parts of the city.
Cultism had hitherto defiled solutions in the state. In flamboyant display of wealth, cultists lived large, own business empires and occupied juicy political positions. Membership of a cult group was believed to be part of a bargaining power for allotment of political positions.
It was obvious that the then government lacked the will to tackle the menace. Security ,especially the police, appeared handicapped as superior orders were issued to them to release cultists in their custody.
The development dealt a deadly blow on the state’s economy. Investors avoided the state like a plague. Panic-stricken business owners closed their shops and retired home early to escape the anger of the marauders.
Clubs, beer parlours and other business owners prayed earnestly for the end of cultism and the reign of terror in the state.
The question, however, on all lips is: can the efforts of the current administration of Governor Seriake Dickson eradicate cult-related activities in the state?
The governor had from inception toed a path of zero-tolerance to crime and declared his readiness to stamp out all forms criminalities including cultism.
Dickson went further to give legal backing to the war against cultism by signing into law, the Bayelsa State Secret Cult, Kidnapping and Similar Activities (Prohibition Bill, 2012), a law that prescribes 10-year jail term for convicted cultists.
Shortly after assenting to the bill, he said: “In the last few years, this state became the headquarters of cult-related violence.
“I want to thank the security agencies for heeding our call for normalcy to return because in the past three months, we are witnesses to a semblance of normalcy, that has returned to the state, particularly, the streets of Yenagoa. But this is not good enough.
“This government has said it over and over that we had no room for criminality and violence. Especially, criminal activities that are violent in nature, whether they are products of militancy or cult related activities.
“We are very serious about that and to underscore our seriousness and to show that in this government there would be no room for tolerance of crime, we sent a bill to the House of Assembly and they have passed it into law.
“The consequences of this law are very severe. The security operatives now have the authority to go after all those who are members of cult groups listed in the law.
“By my signature to this law, I have hereby proscribed all of them. They are hereby proscribed as associations and groups in Bayelsa State. By this laws that I have signed, it is a crime to belong to any of these groups in Bayelsa State”, he said.
The law also made it a crime for any landlord to provide accommodation for cultists or allow his premises to be used in anyway by cultists. Governor Dickosn said this much when he declared that:
“It is also a crime for any household or landlord and landlady or anybody who is in control of any premises whatsoever to allow that premises to be used for any cult-related activities or to allow any cult member to stay in any such premises.
“Once it is proved and upon conviction, such premises, however big it is, will be forfeited to the state government. I want to use this opportunity to call on landlords and landladies to be vigilant and watchful, because I will see to the strict implementation of this law,” he warned.
But the governor gave a lifeline through the law to the cultists. He made a provision for renunciation, an opportunity for members of secret organisation to publicly renounce such membership and benefit from a rehabilitation and reintegration programme.
In pursuant of his olive branch, the Governor, through his Senior Special Assistant on Civil Society, Mr. Tony Ile, proposed amnesty for cultists.
Ile described the proposed amnesty as part of government’s efforts to further extend the olive branch to repentant cultists, especially, those hiding in coastal communities and higher institutions.
He urged such persons to register their names and submit their profiles to his office. He gave March 20 and April 5 as the period for such registration.
“Government is therefore, calling on cult members to take advantage of this window of opportunity created to turn a new leaf and do something meaningful with their lives.
“To demonstrate government’s commitment to this project, His Excellency, Henry Seriake Dickson, Governor of Bayelsa state, will meet with all repentant cultists at a later date to discuss and arrange for proper security of their lives as well as ways to engage and empower them”, he said.
Following the approach described by many people as “carrot and stick”, 11,000 of the youths from the eight local government areas of the state, converged at the Banquet Hall, Yenagoa, to formally take oaths denouncing cultism.
The youths who wore white T-shirts, symbolising peace, took the oaths administered on them by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Francis Egele in the presence of other government representatives led by Governor Dickson.
Dickson, who was happy at the development, informed the youths that the government had earmarked N1bn as soft loans for young entrepreneurs.
He said the government had concluded plans to hold a youth summit in the state to identify their problems. He said the youths would undergo training on skill acquisitions after their verifications.
Addressing them he said, “If we do not help to build you all, then our future will not be assured. You are all aware of what our restoration government is doing; building schools, roads, hospitals, investing in security and making our state safe, talking to people to come here to invest so that we can create jobs for you.
“All of these will come to nothing, if we don’t equip you with the skills that you need to partake in the economy to protect our future.
“This exercise is not the end but the beginning; by the time my team concludes the verification exercise, which will be detailed, local government by local government, when we are through with all of these, we are going to engage you in a special youth empowerment programme. A total of 10,000 youths will be engaged.”
He said the beneficiaries would be trained in agriculture, traffic management and the special surveillance system.
Also the Commissioner for Youths Development, Mr. Akpoebide Alamieyeseigha urged the youths to embrace the vocational programmes initiated by the government.
Following the reintegration programme of the government for the repentant cultists, he said anybody caught indulging in criminal activities would henceforth be penalised in accordance with the law.
A petty trader who identified herself as Preye Ezekiel believes that the efforts of the governor are yielding dividends citing the existing peace in the state.
She, however, asks Dickson to sustain the peace by creating jobs for the youths. “We cannot develop without peace. Let us encourage the governor, who has shown uncommon determination to secure our lives”, she said.
