CALM has returned to Calabar, Cross River state, after 15 days of killings by cultists who invaded the city, allegedly from a first generation university in one of the southern states of the country.

In all, 11 students from the University of Calabar were hacked to death by the cultists who carried out their dastardly act in the daylight.

Curiously, it was learnt that, 10 of the 11 murdered students were final year students who had completed their degree examinations about one or two hours earlier in the day.

Those killed were either traced to their parents' houses, invited out and shot dead at the door step of such houses, or caught up in the traffic, or picked up while buying things in the market or sighted in the library and gunned down without qualms.

Stunned by the killings, the state government and state police command swung into action deploying police armoured cars, while uniformed and plain-clothed securitymen hit the city arresting some of the cultists while some beat a retreat and escaped from Calabar.

On its part, the state legislature hurriedly passed an executive bill outlawing secret cults, stipulating a two-year jail term for cultists without an option of fine while their sponsors will be sent behind bars for 12 calendar months without an option of fine as well as sending landlords who accommodate cultists to jail for two years.

While giving assent to the bill, Duke said principals of schools where cultism is prevalent will be booted out of the system while the union government of such schools will be dissolved and members expelled.

Duke also warned heads of tertiary institutions to put their acts together and flush out cultists or have themselves flushed out of work.

Confirming the peace which now reign in Calabar, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bashiru Azeez said "there is no more problem here and that sort of thing will never happen again."

"Those APC's (Amoured Personnel Carriers) you see will be in the town for some time to prevent further occurrence of what we witnessed" Azees said.

He said "police will never wait for crimes to be committed but will always move in to prevent crimes in the society."