Lagos: Cultists kill OPC commandant, four others

TRACKING>>Five persons were killed, including a commandant of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), after suspected Aiye cult members embarked on ‘operations no mercy’ on Eiye Confraternity members at the Oworoshoki area of Lagos State.

Residents said that the fight in the community had been going on for weeks, but culminated into something sinister by Thursday, forcing many people to remain doors and commercial activities grounded.

The murder of the OPC Commandant, Mr. Dare Ogunshakin, opened another fresh wave of tension in the community. Ogunshakin was said to have been killed when he went into the den of the Aiye in an attempt to dislodge them.

A woman, who didn’t want her name mentioned, said: “When the commandant of the OPC saw a corpse near his parked car at Ferry area on Thursday, he carried out investigation and discovered that Aiye members dumped the corpse to implicate him. Out of annoyance, the commandant and other OPC men went to the hideout of the Aiye members in an attempt to dislodge them. Unfortunately, the cultists overpowered and chased them away.

“While they were escaping, the commandant fell down at Olayiwola Street. One of the cultists told his colleagues to allow him to go, but another one called ‘Swagger’ came to the scene. He said, ‘No mercy.’

“He insisted that the commandant should be executed. Right from where I was standing, I heard them say ‘no mercy’ to anyone who dared them. According to them, they were untouchable in Oworoshoki.”

Another resident said: “Aiye cultists have been going round communities, attacking Eiye members in broad daylight without being challenged by the police.”

The Aiye members allegedly used to come from the riverside and would go to houses of Eiye members. Once they have hacked their target to death, they leave.

The marauding cultists were said to have turned Odunfa, Ekore, Ogunaike, Adebare, Church, Ososa, Onabanjo, Sokoya, Olarewaju and Fagbami streets into battlefields.

A resident of Onabanjo Street, Mr. Adebayo Idowu, said the cult clashes in Oworoshoki had been going on for long, overwhelming the police.

He said: “My finding about the recent onslaught going on in Oworoshoki was a spill over of the killing of the late notorious cultist, Ibrahim Balogun, at Somolu in October last year.”