• 10 suspected cult members killed • Residents, youth groups decry rising death toll • Police parade FUTO students, 30 others for alleged armed robbery, kidnapping More than 10 lives have been lost since Sunday
in Akure, the capital of Ondo State, over
recurrent clashes and reprisal attacks by
suspected cult groups. The latest of the attacks
was the gruesome murder of a young man,
suspected to be a cult member at NEPA area around 10p.m. on Monday, increasing the
death toll to 10. The Guardian gathered that the clashes had
been between the notorious Eiye Confraternity
and Aiye Confraternity members, who were
bent on reprisal attacks to settle scores among
themselves. An eyewitness, who spoke with our
correspondent on the condition of anonymity,
said he heard a salvo of gunshots and
everybody scampered to safety. It was when
they returned to the scene they met the victim
in his pool of blood. “This is becoming too rampant. A guy was
killed at Obanla few days ago, while another
one met his untimely death yesterday
(Monday) at Roadblock Area,” he said. Other
people, who spoke with our correspondent
expressed fears over the resurgence of cult- related killings. Another resident said: “What the police are
doing is to wait for the killings to happen and
they start raiding. In the last two days, they
have arrested more than 100 people. “They were at Odopetu and Tipper Garage. I
think they are using the development to make
money for themselves, running after Yahoo
boys to extort money from them,” he said. President of Akure Youth Coalition (AYC), Mr.
Tuyi Adekambi, lamented that community
leaders and police authorities had turned deaf
ears to their warnings concerning the menace. “The activities of these cult rivalries have now
graduated from night attacks and killings to
broad daylight operation. There is
pandemonium in every part of Akure. They not
only kill and maim their targets, but dispossess
citizens of their belonging whenever they struck.” Similarly, the coordinator of Youth Assembly of
Nigeria (YAN), Ondo State chapter, Mr. Adeyelu
Oluwadamilare, decried the unabated cult
activities. He urged the governor to step up
measures at nipping the killings and cult-
related activities in the bud. Meanwhile, the state Police Public Relations
Officer (PPRO), Mr. Femi Joseph, who confirmed
the incident, noted that the command had
mobilised a contingent of its personnel to
curtail the crisis. According to him, the police promptly kicked
off investigations into the unrest, which had
led to the arrest of more than 20 suspects
nabbed mainly for cultism, robbery, burglary,
kidnapping and other related crimes. Joseph assured Akure residents to remain calm
and continue with their day-to-day activities
without panicking, adding that the culprits
would be prosecuted according to the law. The Imo State Commissioner of Police, Chris
Okey Ezike, has paraded three students of the
Federal University of Technology, Owerri
(FUTO), for alleged armed robbery and cult-
related offences. No fewer than 30 others were also paraded for
alleged cases ranging from kidnapping,
stealing and armed robbery at the command’s
headquarters in Owerri, capital city of Imo
State, on Tuesday. Six cars and several arms
and ammunition were recovered from the suspects. He gave the names of the FUTO students as
Igboerika Ifeanyi Paul, 23; Obodo John Ifeanyi,
23; and Agumadu Tochukwu, 19, alleging that
they robbed one, O. N. Felix, of the same
institution, at Eziobodo hostel, of a laptop and
other electrical accessories, after attacking him with an axe and other dangerous weapons. Items recovered from them included laptop,
one axe, 20 SIM cards from different networks,
two hammers and four black axes. Ezike said
the effort of the anti-cult unit of his command
yielded results in apprehending the suspects,
disclosing that the new approach adopted by his command such as ‘operation identification,
arrest, detention and prosecution of suspected
armed robbers, kidnappers, cultists and other
notorious criminals; and profiling of
communities, organizations/hotels, have
yielded fruits. He also disclosed that other measures, such as
forensic technology in investigation and
detection had been helpful in tracking
suspected criminals in the 27 local councils of
the state. Exike said Akachukwu Agu, China Agujuo,
Tochukwu China and Desmond Aka were
among the suspects who recently abducted
Rev. Fr. Charles Nwachukwu in the state. He
regretted that some of the abducted victims
were killed and others yet to be seen.

Source and Photos:- http://legendbaze.ga/2017/06/28/reign-of-terror-as-serial-killings-cult-activities-hit-akure/

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