Rivers: Cultists beat junior member to death

From Tony John, Port Harcourt

There is escalation of cult clash in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, following the death of a young man identified as Matthew, who was allegedly tortured by suspected senior members of a faction of a cult group at Oduneze Lane, Mile 3 Diobu, in the state capital at the weekend.

Daily Sun gathered that the pregnant female lover of the deceased reported him to the leadership of his cult group, alleging that Matthew wanted to sell their three-year-old daughter.

An anonymous source disclosed that persons suspected to be leaders of Matthew’s cult group came to his house and took him to their ‘barracks’ where he (Matthew) was severely beaten as a punishment for his misconduct.

The source said that during the alleged beating, Matthew collapsed and died, while the suspected senior members of the cult group and the pregnant female lover ran away.

Following the development, a combined team of police operatives raided Oduneze Lane on Saturday evening and arrested some suspects.

Some residents of Oduneze Lane said they are afraid of resurgence of intra-cult violence in Diobu and Port Harcourt City and appealed to the police and relevant security agencies to beef up security in the affected areas.

Recall that the spokesperson for the Rivers State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, a Superintendent of Police (SP), on 13 November 2025, announced that the command had arrested two more suspects linked to violent intra-cult clash between BS and D12 Deygbam cult groups.

Some months ago, the police command arrested and charged eight other suspects to court, describing the groups as bloodsuckers.