Anti-cult war sparks panic in Benue town

You don’t seem to have a choice on this in Gboko, Benue State, if you are wearing an afro (the once fashionable wig-like, curly hair shaped into a smooth round ball that men wear); you automatically qualify for a cut – by force.

Youths in Gboko have declared war on those wearing afro hair styles and low-waist jeans, who, they suspect belong to cult groups. They drag them to the market square.
The development, which has created panic in the town, followed the killing by mob action of nine suspected cult group members about a week ago in Lessel, headquarters of Ushongo Local Government Area.

One of the suspected cult group members allegedly shot and killed a commercial motorcyclist (Okada rider).
Read also: Suspected herdsmen kill two farmers in Benue community
As early as 9am, some of the youths in Gboko, armed with scissors, stormed the market and went after those with afro hair style and low waist jeans.

Victims of the action were mostly youths aged between 10 and 20, some of them with the ‘Mike Tyson’ hair style – the one worn by former boxing champion.
The youths have vowed to stop cult activities in Gboko, the ancestral home of the Tiv.
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Gboko Local Government Area Chairman Mrs. Berky Orpin condemned the action. She called for calm, saying security agencies and elders had intervened to avert a breakdown of law and order.