BY IKE UCHECHUKWU- CALABAR

The Cross River Police Command has arrested 12 suspected cultists in Obudu local government area of the state ahead of the Aug. 11 bye-election for Obudu State Constituency.

Parading the suspects on Thursday in Calabar at the Force Headquarters, Mr. Hafiz Inuwa, the State Commissioner of Police, said that the suspects were arrested for parading themselves in Obudu with the intention to disrupt the election process.

Inuwa told journalists that the suspects were arrested with dangerous weapons by men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the command.

His words: “These hoodlums are cultists’, they were arrested irrespective of party affiliation because there were in Obudu to ferment trouble and case chaos in the area.

“From our investigation, the 12 of them are cultists. Two of them are very notorious cultists who have been on our wanted list. “Mc-slow” is a very dreaded Viking member and Ubong is a dreaded skylo member.

“We knew that there were going to Obudu to commit crime because their voters’ registration centre is not in Obudu. There were arrested with three live cartridges; one revolver pistol and a locally made one. They were ostensibly going to Obudu to commit crime.

“Any miscreant, political party or individuals with the intention of causing trouble to thwart the peaceful conduct of this election will be arrested and prosecuted’’, he warned.

Speaking further, he said that the command had earlier arrested 10 persons in Obudu who were also disrupting the peace of residents in that area ahead of the election.

The Commissioner said that the police would be on ground to create the peaceful and enabling environment for the electorate to come out en mass and casts their votes.

He said: “Our own is not to conduct the election but to create a peaceful atmosphere where all party supporters will be very free to casts their votes.

The Obudu State Constituency in Cross River state House of Assembly became vacant following the demise of the lawmaker, Mr. Stephen Ukpukpen, on May 30.