A clash by two warring cult groups has claimed the lives of not less than three persons in the Ijora Badia, Apapa-Iganmu area of Lagos State.
One of the victims, identified simply as Jamiu, was hit with an axe while the other duo, Kazeem Ayinde and the other victim who has not been identified were killed in revenge for Jamiu’ murder.
The warring parties from the White sand and Railway areas were said to have been involved in a protracted clash for supremacy with those from the Badia community.
The two sides were however said to have renewed hostilities on December 25, 2014, after a fight which left many dead on both sides. One of the groups reportedly vowed to even the fatalities, Punch reports.
A source resident at the area of the clash who identified himself as, Adeyemo Ajayi, claimed that Jamiu’s friends from the Badia community avenged his death.
He said, “Jamiu was a neighbour and I knew him well. We used to chat, although I sincerely don’t know the job he did. They came to his house with an axe and hacked him to death.
“His family does not live around here, so it was policemen from Ijora Badia that came to take his corpse away.”
Meanwhile, another resident, Dayo Olusoji, disclosed that the victims of the attack were possibly more than three persons as the hoodlums raided houses of targets to kill them.
Olusoji said, “They don’t start their fight until around 8pm. Their fight took a bigger dimension recently when they had a gun battle with the police and in the course of the exchange, some of them were killed and the police also lost few of their men.
“Since that time, they have been counting scores and none of them is ready to lay down their weapons.”
Some of the suspects were said to have been nabbed by the police operatives in the area on Tuesday, February 10, 2015.
An anonymous resident urged authorities to reinforce the policemen in the area for quicker responses to emergencies as they could possibly be overpowered by the superior gun power of the assailants.
He said, “Again, why this has not stopped is because whenever those people are arrested, the police would grant them bail and that seemed to have emboldened them to kill more people since their bail is guaranteed. ”
Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, said, “Two people were killed. The police are already investigating the killings.”
