The Nigeria Police Force’s Enugu State Command detained 18 juvenile cultists during their initiations in one of the state’s bushes.
On Wednesday, while escorting the suspects to the state police headquarters, state Commissioner of Police Ahmed Ammani asked parents to take responsibility for their children’s upbringing in order to prevent them from engaging in delinquent behavior.
Ammani, who expressed sorrow that minors between the ages of 14 and 17 could have been permitted to join cults at such a young age, stated that parents must work along with the police and other constituted authorities in the state to combat youthful delinquency.
He did, however, mention that the suspects, who were made up of 15 males and three girls, were apprehended by operatives of the police command’s Anti-Cult Unit on March 12 at noon on their initiation grounds.
He warned parents to avoid becoming entangled in the web of state law, which holds that parents are accountable for any violation committed by any child or ward in their care.
Ammani stated that the officers in command were perplexed as to how children aged 14 to 17 years old found enjoyment in adhering to cult or fraternity groups.
They were caught red-handed with machetes, knives, and other hazardous weapons as they began the process of launching themselves into cultism, according to him.
“The startling disclosure by these children led to their parents’ invitation to the command,” he stated.
Parents should take parenting and the character development of their children seriously in order to prevent them from becoming a threat to society.
Currently, these adolescents will turn out to be a huge fear to the state’s peace-loving citizens within a few years, with some becoming armed robbers, highway robbers, kidnappers, and eventually murderers.
“All of this is the result of a parent failing to fulfill his or her obligation to the kid as well as exercising necessary care in monitoring and influencing the child’s lifestyle.”
The commissioner stated that the parents would sign an agreement promising to provide appropriate parental care for their children and to provide a periodic report on their character development and household obedience.
