We killed our youth leader in revenge —Self-confessed Dey Bam cult member

A wanted suspect in connection with the murder of a youth leader at Ebubu community in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, Emmanuel Jeremiah (22) has been arrested by the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the Rivers State Police Command.

Jeremiah, who is reported to be a member of Dey Bam cult in the community, had been at large since the killing of the youth leader, William Adantha Samora, in 2013. His other cult members whose names were given as Asegoo, Nnanna, Parass, Sky Bee, Slim Body, Philip and Mba, led by a young man, simply called Mopol, were arrested after the incident and charged to Magistrates’ Court 2, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. .

Crime Reports’ findings revealed that Jeremiah and his cult group members were at a burial ceremony in their community called Ebubu on the fateful day when the deceased, who was also the vice president of youths in the community, hit one Ogoni boy, a member of Dey Bam cult group, with his vehicle.

The Dey Bam cult group members were said to have been upset at the death of one of them and had held an emergency meeting where it was decide that they would deal with the vice president that very night. The Vice President of Youth allegedly belonged to the Iceland cult group.

At about 10 p.m. same day, after the meeting, it was learnt, the Dey Bam cult members proceeded to Samora’s house where they met him eating. After surrounding his house, one of the cult members shot the youth leader in the head through the window. Immediately, after the shooting, they rushed into his house and inflicted machete cuts on him. A police source informed Crime Reports that Jeremiah was with a machete on the fateful day and was believed to have inflicted the machete cuts on the deceased.

Though he escaped arrest at the time the offence was committed, Jeremiah was apprehended on December 4, 2014. Crime Reports learnt that Jeremiah had always been regarded as a bad boy which caused him to be disowned by his father who is a retired police officer.

In an interaction with Crime Reports, Jeremiah opened up on his involvement in the case: 

“I joined Dey Bam cult in 2005. I was just 12 years old. I was lured into joining the cult. I went to my community to spend holiday, not knowing that some of the young boys were making plans to make me join their cult group. They told me they liked me and wanted to be my friends. They said I should come close to them but I refused. They noticed that I distanced myself from them and threatened me.

“They later used a friend of mine, Branson, to lure me to a party. Branson is also known as Papa. Before I knew what was happening, they had brought out knives, axes and guns and threatened to kill me if I did not cooperate with them, saying that nobody would know my whereabouts.

“They asked me to pull off my clothes, except my boxers. They blindfolded me and asked me to lie down. They started beating me, shot at the ground and also broke bottle on the ground. They did incantations and poured libation. That was how I became a member.

“After this, I did not move very close to them because my father was a strict and disciplined man.”

Giving an account of what happened the day the vice president was killed, Jeremiah said:

“When Samora made his intention known that he wanted to lead the youths in Ebube community to curb the problem that existed, youths supported him, irrespective of the cult group they belonged to, though he was a known Iceland man.

“But to our surprise, he started being partial. Anytime his cult members came to the community to foment trouble, he would keep mum and would not caution them. If it was any other group, he would inform the police and those caught would be charged to court and sent to prison.

“On the day of the incident, we were at a burial. The deceased belonged to us because she was grandmother to one of our members. We were there celebrating when we saw that people started running. While we wondered what was happening, we saw Samora’s group approaching our gathering. We learnt that one of our invited guests was hit by the vice president and he died. That was how the celebration was brought to an abrupt end as everyone fled.

“Knowing that there was likely to be a reprisal, Samora’s men started shooting sporadically that we had to retreat so that none of us would be hit. My own cult group led by Mopol held a meeting and we decided to invade Samora’s house.

“We went there at about 10 a.m., and met him eating with one of his friends. One of us shot him. Though I had a cutlass, I was not bold enough to use it on him, so someone did the job until we saw that he was dead. His friend was also hit by bullet and he died too.

“After Samora’s death, his group came out and started looking for those who killed their leader. They killed three people, including one native doctor, whom they accused of doing juju for Dey Bam members, and two others. I ran to my uncle’s place in Enugu State to escape the group’s wrath. I came back to Ebubu in December, 2014 and I was arrested.”

Jeremiah revealed to Crime Reports that he fell out of favour with his father because of the wife he married after his mother’s death.

“The woman started maltreating me and my sister and my father used to listen to whatever she told him.

“I ran away but later returned. The woman did not accept me back and my father also joined her by calling my mother a witch, saying he didn’t know why he married my mother. That was why I sought solace among my friends.”

The suspect also admitted taking marijuana but said “e no too tey” (it was just a short while back).

Confirming the arrest, the Police Public Relations Officer in Rivers State, Muhammadu Ahmad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said that the suspect would be charged to court after the completion of investigation