Henry Mbachu, the representative of Awka South I in Anambra State House of Assembly, said that from Easter Sunday till date, 34 persons have been gunned down.
He said the action is worrisome, disclosing that he plans to hold a security summit within his constituency on May 29.
The lawmaker gave this indication in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Awka, the Anambra State capital, on Monday.
Mbachu, a Labour Party legislator, said that in a space of one month, 34 lives have been wasted in Awka and its environs in the name of cultism.
He said the crime needs to be discussed at a roundtable where “we will all brainstorm to proffer solutions that will be submitted to the government.
“The summit will throw up suggestions that will help in ending cult killings.
“It looks like these cultists have overwhelmed the state apparatus charged with law enforcement and security services.”
Mbachu appealed to traditional and community leaders, faith-based organisations, and youths in the constituency to take ownership of their lives and kill the cultism menace.
He said: “As your representative in the state assembly, I am pained about the rate of killings in the name of cultism and wish to find a permanent solution.
“We must separate cultism from crime as the presence of many security outfits, the construction of gates in all the villages and business areas have not been able to end the high wave of cult killings.”
Mbachu disclosed that the state legislature has passed the anti-cultism bill, which is awaiting assent of the Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo.
In a swift reaction, the spokesman of the Anambra State Police Command, Tochukwu Ikenga, said that the police have been doing their best to end cultism in the state.
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Ikenga, a Superintendent of Police, said: “The committed effort of the police command, under the watch of Commissioner of Police Aderemi Adeoye, has helped to reduce the rate of killings in Anambra.”
He said that the command would always partner anybody fighting insecurity following its determination to flush out criminality in the state.