Fear in Anambra as ‘Bakassi Boys’ re-emerges

There are growing concerns over the suspected return of a disbanded security group, ‘Bakassi Boys’ to the streets of Awka, in Anambra State on Monday.

It is not clear who is behind the group.

But with the growing insecurity, the resurgence of the dreaded outfit in the southeastern region, might compound the already vexing situation.

The dreaded ‘Bakassi Boys’ vigilante group, who engaged in jungle justice in Anambra State during the time of former governor, Chinwoke Mbadinuju, allegedly resurfaced after two decades to crush cultists and other criminals.

Reports stated that the boys, who came mainly from alleged “cult groups” have taken over Awka town in recent times without any response from the police or the state government.

The police in Awka, seems not to know about the activities of the group. But the Police Public Relations Officer for the state, Ikenga Tochukwu, expressed the willingness of the command to work with any stakeholder in ensuring security of lives and property in the state.

The Bakassi Boys, it could be recalled, emerged in the late 1999, a period of high incidences of security in the commercial cities of the southeast part of the country such as Onitsha, Aba, Owerri and Enugu, among others.

It was under the administration of Chinwoke Mbadinuju as governor of Anambra State.

They were usually armed with machetes and guns and an array of black magic artifacts and juju worn around their body.

The manner in which they knew or discovered if one was evil or not was by the use of dark magic in which they placed a magical silver-coloured machete on the chest of any suspicious person, and if the machete’s colour changed from silver to blood red it meant the person had committed a heinous crime at some point in their life, and invariably such a person would be killed immediately. (Guardian)