A young man in his early 20s was on Sunday beaten to death by a mob in the Diobu area of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
It was gathered that the mob killed the suspect after he allegedly robbed a pregnant woman of her phone and other valuables on Saturday night.
A source who is a member of a vigilante group said that the angry youths tortured the suspect to death.
It also said that some residents in the area started fleeing to avoid reprisal because the suspect belonged to a cult group.
The source said, “It took the intervention of a local vigilante group in the area and policemen to douse the tension in the area on Sunday.
“The young man that was killed was a member of Deygbam cult group. He robbed a pregnant woman of her phone on Saturday around 6pm and other boys in the area, who were not happy with what he did, held him and started drilling (beating) him to teach him a lesson.
“While they were at it, he passed out and died. His friends later came and started threatening to cause havoc at the waterside to avenge their friend’s death.
“As a result, some residents of the waterfront started running away for safety. It was the intervention of the Diobu vigilante group that prevented them from fighting one another. Our men and the police were patrolling the entire watersides.”
When contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Nnamdi Omoni, said he was going to call the Divisional Police Officer of the area to get details of the incident and call back our correspondent.
He, however, did not call back nor take several calls put across to him as of the time of filing this report.
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