Suspected cultists have killed no fewer than two people and injured 15 others in a violent clash in the Ilasan area of Lagos State.
The violence, which occurred on Thursday night, was said to be so intense as members of rival cult groups reportedly chased away policemen armed with AK-47 rifles.
The policemen attached to the Ilasan Police Station were drafted to the scene to quell the violence, but to no avail.
Normalcy returned to the area after the police sent Armoured Personal Carrier to the scene of the violence.
The Ilasan Jakande Estate area, during the fight, became deserted as everybody scampered to safety to avoid being attacked or robbed by the suspected cultists.
Some of the hoodlums were said to have worn masks so that they would not be identified.
They allegedly robbed residents as they carried out their nefarious activities at the estate.
An eyewitness, Chikaodi Umeh, said the hoodlums were over 50 in number and attacked both innocent people and rival cult members.
Umeh, who claimed to have escaped death by the whiskers, said, “It was around 7.15pm when I was returning from my business at Ajah. My children called me that the cult boys had started their fight again. I instructed them not to leave the flat, assuring them that I was on my way back home. When I got to the estate, I was very careful as I walked, but unknown to me, danger was lurking around the corner. When I suddenly rammed into a group of these bad boys, I wanted to turn back and escape, but it was too late as another group was coming from behind. I had to raise my hands up for them to indicate that I was harmless. One slapped me with his cutlass while another inserted his hands into my pockets and collected my mobile phone and N68, 000 cash in my pocket. One of them ordered me to run like a mad dog and I had to run as fast as my legs could carry me.
“They killed two people and injured over 15 others, as I heard. They said one of them had his intestine pulled out. It is becoming too much in this estate. These cult boys will be attacking themselves and innocent people, and robbing as they fight. They should go and look for work to do. They are jobless; that’s why they are fighting. An idle man is a devil’s workshop. The devil is using these youths in this area.”
A woman, who identified herself as Mrs. Igwe also corroborated Umeh, saying two people were killed during the violence.
She also recalled that her husband, Sunday Igwe, was killed last year by suspected cultists at a football viewing centre.
“These cultists started to fight again on Thursday. They killed two young men during the fight. They chased the policemen away. The policemen had to run away with their guns. In April this year, my husband was at a viewing centre watching football when these hoodlums came there and attacked the people there. They slaughtered my husband. I’m yet to recover from that shock. They
killed him, leaving me with five children at this period when things are very difficult. Government should do something about this violence in this Ilasan Jakande Estate. I’m tired of this place. Let God provide money so that I can relocate from here,”
Igwe said.
