The cults were alleged to be working for some powerful leaders in the local government area before some of them were taken out of the gangs and given special training by a section of their leaders, as things began to go awry in the area.
The current spate of killings and reprisals in the Igbo Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State has been blamed on an alleged supremacy battle between two violent gangs.
The cults were alleged to be working for some powerful leaders in the local government area before some of them were taken out of the gangs and given special training by a section of their leaders, as things began to go awry in the area.
The leadership of the separatist group, Indigenous People of Biafra, earlier distanced itself from the activities of the cultists, saying that its members and operatives of its militant arm, Eastern Security Network (ESN) do not use any forest in Enugu Ezike for their operations.
Meanwhile, the cult members who were given special training allegedly joined Ebubeagu security outfit and always hid their faces to protect their identities from the local communities.
It was learnt that since the coming of Ebubeagu, there had been heightened tension, killings and burning of houses in reprisals by members of opposing gangs who were hitherto working for one man only identified as Alhaji.
Although the so-called members of Ebubeagu were said to have been picked from other local government areas in the state, the majority of the members are said to come from Aji, where the chairman of the local government area and member, representing Udenu/Igbo Eze North Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, hail from.
“The problem is that government officials have adopted a cult group to attack another cult group that the government previously used for elections but may no longer be loyal to those in power now,” a source in the Igbo Eze told SaharaReporters.
A member of the splinter group who spoke to SaharaReporters on condition of anonymity in Enugu, said, "Ebubeagu group has now teamed up with the state government and the police to wipe out its own splinter group by feeding them with false information about our exploits with the sole aim of wiping out our group so that they will remain the sole determinant of political activities and election results in the council area.
"There is no Ebubeagu in Enugu State. What we have in Enugu State is the Neighbourhood Watch Vigilante Group, not Ebubeagu. Ebubeagu is yet to be set up in Enugu State.
"They falsely told the police of our brutality against our people. They blamed all the assassinations we carried out together on us.
"They told the police that we attacked Don Chris (a philanthropist, Chris Onyekachi Simon also known as Don Chris) to scare him from contesting the House of Representatives election and that we buried children alive when we were preparing charms together but it was the other way round.
"If the police will do thorough investigations, they will find out those who recruited us and had been funding our activities, directing us on those to attack or not to attack and giving us money to buy arms, ammunition and other logistics.
"This war is between the current leaders in Enugu Ezike and other parts of Igbo Eze North. Let's wait and see," he said.
Efforts made by SaharaReporters to speak with the Special Adviser to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi on Information, who also oversees the Ministry of Information, Mr Steve Oruruo, were not successful as he could not be reached on the telephone at the time of filing this report.