The tension following the killing of a top militant leader, Soboma George, in Port Harcourt on Tuesday evening, was yet to abate as security was further reinforced around the Old Township area on Wednesday, to avert the resurrection of another cult war.

The state Commissioner of Police, Sulei-man Abba, at a press briefing in Port Harcourt on Wednesday evening, said that a senior member of George’s family had reported the former militant leader’s disappearance and likely death to the state command.

According to Abba, one Chief Ibiere George visited him in the office on Wednesday and reported that the family feared Sobomabo had been assassinated the previous night. He however, noted that the corpse of the victim was yet to be recovered.

“We are awaiting a formal confirmation from the police before making any statements”, acting Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Blessing Wikina, said when asked to comment on the incident.

When the Nigerian Tribune visited the township axis, men of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) were seen carrying out intensive stop-and-search of all vehicles and passers-by moving through Lagos bus stop down to Bororkiri area.

George was said to have been felled on Tuesday evening by unknown gunmen along Nembe Street, after watching a football match at the field of Government Approved School, Borikiri.

Eyewitnesses said two other persons, one said to be his girlfriend and another, whose identity was yet to be ascertained, were hit by stray bullets during the shooting, while Soboma’s body was reportedly whisked away instantly to an unknown destination by his loyalists.

Despite the presence of the heavy security, some residents of the Old Township area are now leaving the area for fears that Soboma’s loyalists might be angling for a reprisal attack.