Strange Cats Terrorize Residents of Ngozika Estate, Awka, Induce Nightmares

For folks living on Road 22, Ngozika Estate Awka, Anambra State and environs, the night hides with a knife. And the knife is wielded by strange cats that raid the neighborhood every night, mewing terrifyingly on their windows and sowing nightmares in the air.
A friend of mine who lives in the neighborhood said he had done everything he could to get the cats off his back and failed. “They invade my compound in the midnight and from then on, it is nightmares and terrifying dreams until daybreak. They make sounds that mimick a crying baby or a grieving old woman,” he intoned, his eyes red with worry. “I have no idea what to do again. Maybe you should write about this experience. I follow your posts on Facebook and I have seen that a lot of people read you. Someone might come up with a comment that might help us out of this nightmare. You just never know,” he said, his eyes half closed in prayer.
As we stood on the roadside discussing his fears, a sallow-faced woman ambled down the road towards us, a little girl by her side. I took one look at her and quickly acted on my impulse. “Excuse me madam, do you live on this street, please?” I asked. She nodded in the affirmative. “Would you by any chance know the owner of those cats that patrol this street at night?” She shook her head. “I don’t think they belong to anyone. I have seen them coming out of the tunnel over there,” she said, pointing to the narrow waterway down the road. My friend and I went with her to examine the tunnel, half hoping to see one of the cats. But it was a forlorn hope. The cats roam only at night.
We walked away from the tunnel in disappointment.” I don’t believe that those creatures are real cats,” my friend reasoned, a puzzling glint in his eyes. “I think they are witches. One night, I came out from my room to confront them and when I turned my torchlight on, I was scared by what I saw. A large white cat stood on the low wall and turned its head slowly to gaze at me. Its malevolent eyes flashed with sorrow as our eyes met. I raised my hand as though I wanted to hurl something at it but in a flash, it disappeared into the next compound.” He lowered his gaze and urged me to walk with him back to where his car stood at the intersection.
He drove off soon after, leaving me with a plume of smoke from his car and something to chew into the gathering dusk. In an instant, I wondered if his fears were real and if the cats were truly cats or some witches and wizards disguised as cats.
But if his fears are real, what can my friend do to sleep with both eyes closed?
Any ideas?