Community deserted as gunmen murder Paramount Ruler in Rivers State.

Indigenes of Betem Community in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State are still living as refugees in neighbouring communities days after gunmen killed the Paramount Ruler of the community.

Two other persons including the youth leader and one other local were also allegedly killed by members of the dreaded Iceland Cult group.

The killing, theportcitynews gathered, occurred on Wednesday, the 22nd of May 2019 at about 4 pm.

However, 9 days after the killings occurred, residents say that they are scared of going back to their homes as the gunmen might return and kill them.

An indigene of Betem, Kpegezor Leegbari told our correspondent that the killings led to mass exodus of residents from the community, adding that while the killings lasted, there was no intervention from security agencies.

He said: “I don’t know the reason for the killings but Khana Local Government Area is under attack.

” These boys, I don’t know how many they were, but they invaded the community and shot sporadically in the air. There was no security agents around to stop them. So they did what they did and left.

” People have ran away from the community out of fear and I don’t think I would return anytime soon as no one is there to protect I and my family”

The killings by cultists in Ogoniland have increased astronomically in the past months leading to mass exodus and mass burial of loved ones by residents.

Attempts made my leaders like Gani Topba and Gbo Kalabari Ogoni to stem the ugly tide seem not to have achieved remarkable results.

The reason for the cult killings is not yet known. Although, insiders blamed the lingering killings on a supremacy battle between two Ex-militants.

Gbo Kalabari Ogoni in its letter to the president over the planned resumption of exploration activities on the OML 11 oil fields earlier in May warned that a forceful re-entery into Ogoniland by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Corporation, NPDC, will lead to crisis.