Kunle ADELABU
-3 killed in two days
Residents watching the corpse of the suspected Eiye confraternity member killed by suspected Axe members in Ikorodu on Monday
Killings by members of the two rival cult groups in Ikorodu; Eiye and Black Axe confraternities, have continued unabated despite the heavy security presence in the town. .
Following the brutal killings of Gbendu, a suspected Eiye member, at Sago and a Vulcanizer, a suspected member of Axe cult group, at Ota –Ona last week, the two groups have launched deadly reprisal attacks on each other at the weekend and early morning on Monday, April 8.
These attacks were coming days after their planned assault was thwarted by the combined security team.
THE IMPACT gathered that two more members of the Axe Confraternity were brutally killed last Saturday at Lucky Fibre area with their hands cut off and taken away by their assailants.
But a source informed our reporter that it was only one of the slain persons that was a suspected Axe cult member while the other victim was an innocent resident.
According to the report gathered, the two men were killed at a bar.
It was also gathered that the two corpses were taken away by the police who arrived at the scene after the killings which left the residents of the area in shock and fears.
Also, a suspected member of the Eiye Confraternity was allegedly killed in the early hours of Monday (yesterday) morning in what was described as a reprisal attack by the Axe confraternity hit squad.
The victim was left in the pool of his own blood in the middle of Ajina market where residents gathered to watch in awe and disbelief.
When contacted, a senior official of the Onyabo vigilance group told THE IMPACT that the slain cultist was one of the Eiye confraternity’s hit men.
Meanwhile, THE IMPACT gathered that the suspects arrested during last week’s manhunt by the combined security team in Ikorodu have been assisting the Anti-Cultism Squad located at Gbagada with necessary information .
According to report, more cult suspects have been arrested due to the information supplied by the arrested cult members.
It was also gathered that one of the factors responsible for this recent onslaught by the cultists was the unresolved cases of the unaddressed killings of about five members of the Eiye cult group by the members of the Axe confraternity after last year’s reconciliation and denouncement at the Ayangbure palace.
It was alleged that the security operatives have arrested more members of the Eiye confraternity than their rival group.
Some members of the Eiye confraternity, who claimed to have denounced their membership of the group and are interested in peace, called our reporter to register what they called protests by those involved in the latest attacks over the perceived bias concerning the arrest made so far by the police.
The last year’s public membership renouncement by the cultists across Ikorodu division and the subsequent reconciliation was facilitated by the Onyabo vigilance group in partnership with the traditional institutions, Police State Command and other security agencies.
But the leader of the Onyabo vigilance group, Mr Lanre Olabinjo, has debunked the allegation over the bias in the arrest while speaking with our reporter at the weekend.
He accused the families and friends of the suspected cultists allegedly killed after the reconciliation of complicity and obstruction of justice.
“Till date, nobody has shown us the corpse of those allegedly killed after the renouncement and reconciliation. We have been telling them that there is absolutely nothing we or the police can do without the corpse or the families stepping forward to confirm the alleged killings of the cultists.
“On several occasions, we have asked them (families of the alleged murdered cultists) to come forward and register the killings and give names of the suspects but they don’t seem to be interested in that.
“We have also seen situations where families hurriedly remove corpse of their sons killed by rival cult groups and subsequently burying them without the police conducting their investigations”.
He cited the example of last week’s killings where people removed the remains of slain suspected cultists and hurriedly buried them.
“If those complaining that we failed to address the killings of some Eiye cult members by the Axe cult group after the reconciliation are serious enough, they should properly incident such cases and name the suspects and see if we are not going to act.
“We have done everything humanly possible to reconcile and reintegrate them (cultists) back into the society but they seem to be hell-bent in destroying themselves but we are not going to allow them destroy our town further than this”.
The Onyabo leader also added that he and his team cannot move into action or remove any corpse without first seeking and getting the approval of the police authority.
He, therefore, warned the suspected cultists to either leave the town (Ikorodu) or surrender themselves to the appropriate authority.
“I think they have carried their luck too far and the entire community is now ready to fight them back. After all they have subjected Ikorodu to, we still deemed it necessary to reconcile them and give them another opportunity and yet, they are doing this.
“They are going to explain where they found those guns and other dangerous weapons in their possessions after they claimed that they have submitted everything during the reconciliation.
“They have the options of either leaving the town or pay for their crimes against the people of Ikorodu. We are on their trails and we shall apprehend each and everyone of them involved in these dastardly acts”, Olabinjo stated.
Our reporter was unable to reach the Onyabo leader for his reaction to the Monday’s killing.
Aside Ikorodu township and Lucky Fibre, another area being tormented by the activities of the cult groups is Odogunyan where there have been records of deadly attacks and killings by cultists in the recent past weeks.
Speaking with THE IMPACT, a chieftain of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) stated that the community should allow members of the security group to work with the Onyabo Vigilance Group to curtail the excesses of the cultists.
“Sincerely, they (Onyabo) are working but their number is not enough to deal decisively with these boys. The society is aware of what we can do in curtailing these boys.
“I think that Onyabo needs more hands to handle this disturbing situation if we are to urgently address the matter”, he suggested.
