By DAUD OLATUNJI, Abeokuta

Palpable fear has gripped both parents and candidates of  West African Examination Council, WAEC, in Ipokia Local government area of Ogun State as Oro cultists threatened to unleash terror on anybody who flouts the curfew order impossed on people today.

The threat came barely one week after the Oro sect traditionalists had attacked worshipers at their places of worship for allegedly flouting  curfew order in the council, leaving many of their members wounded.

Leading the protesters to Abeokuta, the state capital,the Chairman, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Ogun Province IV Ipokia, Pastor Samuel Gbesemaovo enjoinedthe state government to avert impending religious crisis.

Gbesemaovo who alleged that the traditionalists prevented the WAEC candidates from writing their English Language exam last Saturday  said they have also threatened to repeat the same  tomorrow when Mathematics would be done.

According to the cleric, “grievous assaults occasioning serious injuries to law-abiding citizens, wanton destruction of properties, ritual killings and a host of other inhuman acts are gleefully perpetrated by these faceless villains in the mystical garb of Oro with impunity and sadly, there appears to be no hope for the oppressed and the victims,” he said.

He explained that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and League of Imams and Alfas in Yewaland had petitioned the governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, and the Ipokia Local Government Chairman, Isiaka Aderounmu, but without reply.

Gbesemaovo, who was accompanied by the PFN Chairman in Ado-Odo/Ota, Pastor Toyin Adio, accused some traditional rulers in the area of collaborating with the Oro worshippers to perpetrate illegalities.

Corroborating the CAN position,the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Ogun State chapter yesterday described the development as disheartening, retrogressive and inimical to the image of the Gateway State.

The  State  Coordinator, Soliu Lukman said:  “We have spoken against this at different fora and it should be understood that this is not a religious issue but an infringement on the fundamental human rights of the good citizens of the state.

”We hope the state government will do the needful before these Oro cultists set the state on fire because if the state government failed to do the needful, people are more enlightened to fight for their rights.”