Some youths in Ibaa community in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State have commended the state government for granting amnesty to repentant cultists and others youths in the area involved in violent crimes.
The youths expressed their gratitude to the government in separate interviews on Monday with the News Agency of Nigeria in Emohua, the council headquarters.
They said that the state government’s amnesty offer would bring peace and order in the communities.
One of them, Chikodi Akintola, told NAN that the government’s gesture signalled the return of peace to the once violence-ravaged community.
Akintola said: “We are happy to see our youths coming out to embrace peace and handing their arms over to the state government; it is a welcome development.
“My prayer is that further steps be taken to deepen the process so that permanent peace returns to the community.”
A resident, Silas Akpenuchi, said that the amnesty offer had brought peace of mind to residents of the community who had lived in fear for a long time.
Akpenuchi said: “I can see that people now have peace of mind; the fear that once enveloped the community has disappeared.”
NAN recalls that Ibaa community was engulfed in bloody violence, following a protracted chieftaincy tussle that lead to the death of many people and destruction of property.
The Governor Nyesom Wike-led administration recently commenced an amnesty programme for repentant cultists and other criminals across the state.
The programme followed the resurgence of various kinds of crimes, including cultism across the state in recent month months.
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