By Jude Michael
Ezinano Awka Community has warned members of cult groups and individuals engaging in cult-related activities to leave the community.
The leader of the community, Ozor Chief Jeff Nweke, disclosed this in Awka while addressing the members of the community during the 2024 Ezinano Day, on Friday, 1st November.
Ozor Nweke said the Ezinano Community condemned in strong terms the recent cult attacks in Nibo and Ifite Awka which led to the deaths of over 20 persons, some of who were indigenes of the community.
Nweke, who stressed that the Ezinano Community would not rest on their oars until cultism and cult-related activities in the area were nipped in the bud, appealed to the general public to provide the police and other relevant security agencies information that would lead to the arrest of the perpetrators of the attacks.
‘We will give 10 million Naira to any person with information that will lead to the arrest of the perpetrators of both the Nibo and the Ifite Awka killings,’ the community leader said.
While describing Ezinano Awka as a peace-loving community, Ozor Nweke enjoined every resident, including the children of the community, to shun cultism and cult-related activities.
The Ezinano Community leader also used the opportunity of the 2024 Ezinano Day to announce 50 million Naira economic empowerment for the Ezinano women, including non-indigenes, who gathered at Ogbugbankwa Square, Awka, for the celebration.
He further disclosed that the community had concluded arrangements to establish poultry farms for the women for economic empowerment and employment opportunity.
According to Ozor Nweke who also disclosed that he would hand over the mantle of Ezinano leadership to another person before the end of December 2024, the poultry farming initiative, which, he said, would provide each group of 10 women with 100 chickens, would be made competitive, an arrangement, he added, would attract a handsome reward to the best group.
In an interview, the leader of women in the community, Mrs Gloria Ezulike, thanked the stakeholders of the community and Ozor Nweke for the economic empowerment which she described as the first of its kind in the community and prayed God to reward Nweke with longevity and prosperity.