Investigation on the activities of a Bamenda-based Boko Haram-like sect dubbed, "Salem Church of Christ," has wrapped up and the trial of the four detained leaders is scheduled to kick off tomorrow, Thursday, May 29 at the Bamenda Magistrate Court.
The four leaders were arrested in a secluded compound at Longla Street in Bamenda on March 11, 2013 when Felix Nguele Nguele, Mezam SDO, together with the forces of law and order got tipped about the diabolic activities of the sect. Their activities were unearthed after one of their members; one Harrison Nde, a graduate from the University of Buea took ill and died owing to the fact that the leaders would not allow him to receive medical attention.
The four bearded men stunned the Mezam administration when they disclosed that some nine women and 30 children released from their captivity were their wives and children. The women and children were not only reported to have been caged in the compound since the late 90s but were denied education as the sect leaders considered modern education an aberration.
The women the men exchanged as wives were equally barred from giving birth in the maternity or having antenatal care. All the 30 children were born within the confines of the secluded compound.
During their interrogation, the sect leaders said they had received divine revelation to the effect that the world was soon coming to an end. They said that prohibited them from allowing their wives and children to mix with the rest of the world which according to them is sinful and very corrupt.
Like Boko Haram, they are against Western civilization, reason why none of their children was sent to school. Besides, one of the children disclosed that she was impregnated by her father, one of the sect leaders.
Asked why they were all bearded, they said God knows the number of each and everyone's hair and so shaving it was synonymous with sin.
As the men awaited trial in the Bamenda Central Prison, their wives and children were taken to the Bamenda Regional Hospital and later to an orphanage in Bamenda. The women and their children have since been sent to their respective communities.
It emerged after investigations that the sect leaders and wives hail from Guzang, Batibo in Momo division and Akum in Mezam division in the North West region.
