Residents of Oworoshoki community
and its environs in Lagos State have been living in fear following an ongoing war
between cultists.
Although the fight had been go for
weeks, but it took a revolting turn some weeks ago, leaving at least five
people hacked to death. One of the dead is the commandant of the Oodua People’s
Congress (OPC), Mr. Dare Ogunshakin.
The tension in the community reached
screaming point after the cultists came out with a war slogan, “Operation No Mercy.”
The slogan means that the Aiye
Confraternity members will not show mercy on their rivals. The operation
however snowballed, affecting lives of residents, leading to death of innocent
people.
A member of the community said: “Aiye
members went round the community, attacking rival members, who belonged to Eiye
Confraternity. These attacks were carried out in broad daylight. For all the
days these killings and attacks had been going on, police had not come to
challenge the cult members.”
Aiye members dressed in black
uniforms, usually come from the riverside. Once they stepped out from the
riverside, they walk to their target’s house and carry out execution, and then
move back to their hideout.
A resident of the area, who introduced
himself as Johnson, said: “It’s unfortunate that Nigeria as a country is losing
young men every day to Aiye cultists in Oworoshoki community. For long now,
we’ve not been able to sleep with our two eyes close. Whenever the Aiye cult
group starts their operation, which they called, ‘operation no mercy,’ they
kill at will. To my shock, I discovered most of these cultists are boys between
ages 17 and 20. These boys are deadly. They don’t announce their arrival.
We only noticed them by the manner they walk. They are usually many and are
armed to the teeth. We see them with guns, cutlasses, knives, clubs and
charms.”
Johnson further said: “On Wednesday
last week, I was sleeping in my house at Ekore area when I got a call that a
guy named Stave, alias somebody had been hacked to death by Aiye members. The
Aiye members actually came on that fateful day for a target. As the boys filed
pass, Stave greeted them and continued on his way. However, the Aiye members
didn’t meet their target at home and left in frustration. As they were leaving,
they sighted Stave again and pounced on him. They hacked him to death, right in
the presence of everyone.”
Another resident, Dare said: “We’re
seriously under siege.” Dare revealed
that Odunfa, Ekore, Ogunaike, Adebare, Church, Ososa, Onabanjo, Sokoya,
Olarewaju and Fagbami streets were areas where Aiye cult members have turned to
battlefields.
He said: “Some residents now go to
bed around 6p.m., because of fear. We also have restricted areas; areas which
we don’t go. Police alone cannot combat these cultists. We need more security
agencies to synergise and flush them out of their hideouts and our community.
We no longer walk freely at night because of the killings.”
The murdered of the late OPC commandant,
Ogunshakin, opened a fresh wave of tension in the community. Ogunshakin was
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, he carried out investigation and discovered that Aiye
members dumped the corpse near his car to implicate him. Out of annoyance, the
commandant and other OPC men went into 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 of the cultist 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 saying no mercy to
anyone who dared them. According to them, they were untouchable in Oworoshoki.”
She added: “While the killing was
going on, I was able to see everything. It was done on the road. I wasn’t
myself after witnessing how they killed the OPC commandant. When they were
done, they sang and danced round the corpse of the man before leaving. They
warned OPC members not to dare them again, stressing that they were superior.”
Idowu, a resident said cult clashes
in Oworoshoki had been going on for long, overwhelming the police.
Idowu explained: “According to my
findings, the onslaught going on in Oworoshoki was a spillover of the killing
of the late notorious cultist, Ibrahim Balogun, at Somolu, in October last
year. Most of the cultists, who came to Oworoshoki to kill, are from outside
the community. They come from other parts of the state to join forces with
their colleagues. The leader of the Aiye members in Oworoshoki is Swagger. He
had just returned from prison.”
Fuming, Idowu stated: “When Swagger
was in prison, there was relative peace in the community. But his members
promised to unleash terror on rivals and residents after Swagger returns from
prison. Since his return, his group has killed five persons. I see no reason
why police should allow a notorious killer like Swagger to come back into the
community. I want to urge the new Lagos
State Commissioner of Police, to work closely with residents of the community
to arrest the security situation in the community.”
Idowu suggested that it would be
better if policemen were deployed on Oworoshoki to prevent further killings.
Another resident, Iyabeji, said: “I
had to move my children to Ibadan because of these bad boys. They have taken
over the community and operate with impunity. They used to approach younger
boys in the community, forcing them to join their cult groups. Whenever those
boys declined, they would threaten to kill them. This has caused majority of
the young boys in the community to relocate.”
She further narrated: “When they
approached my son, he declined. And then, one fateful day, I sent him on
errand. These bad boys ambushed and attacked him. Fortunately, my son survived
the attacked. That was what prompted me to move him out of the community.”
The factional vice-chairman of OPC (New
Era), Mr. Agbolade Tiamiyu, said that it was not in the character of members of
OPC to attack cult members without a reason.
Taking a walk down memory lane, Tiamiyu
said: “In 2009 when the killings were going on, residents of the community and
some chiefs contracted OPC to flush out the bad boys. We did everything
possible to tackle them. They ran out of the community and relocated to another
place. After we succeeded in flushing them out, the residents refused to pay us
the N2.73million they promised us. That was how we terminated the contract. On
the recent killings, we have received overture from the police to work with
them, in order to flush the cultists out of the community but we turned it down
for a reason. On Friday last week, the Aiye cult members killed someone. The
killing was done at the Ferry area. They dumped the person beside the OPC commandant’s
car in order to implicate him. They also vandalised his car and left.”
Tiamiyu continued: “When the commandant
saw the corpse near his car, he informed his boys. They mobilised to attack the
cultists. When the information got to me, I ordered them to return. When they
were returning, the cultists ambushed and attacked them. It was in the process
that the commandant was hacked to death. How the cultists got the information
that the OPC men were coming to attack them is what we still don’t know. The
commandant’s corpse is still in the mortuary. I ordered them to come back
because we didn’t want to take laws into our hands. We’re law abiding citizens.
We’re presently working on how to give our colleague a befitting burial. We
don’t want trouble.”
Although bloodbath is taking place
almost on daily basis at Oworoshoki, some parts of Lagos State are not left of
the cult wars and violence.
Our correspondent gathered that on
Friday, two rival cult groups clashed in Fadeyi area. The members shot at one
another along the busy Ikorodu road, causing serious commotion. During the
clash, which was also between Aiye and Eiye groups, many people were said to
have sustained injuries.
An Eiye member, Abdulbasit
Babatunde 28, was recently killed by
a
rival group. Babatunde, alleged to be the second in
command (2ic) of the Eiye cult was killed over N5, 000 given to the two rival
groups by a politicians at a rally in Abeokuta.
It was alleged that instead of Babatunde to share
the money with the rival group members, he bolted with the money. He ran to a
beer parlour, where he shared the money among his group members. Out of
annoyance, the Aiye rival cult group traced him to the beer parlour, where
they hacked him to death in broad daylight.
A source said: “The victim was the son of a popular
Islamic cleric in Abeokuta.”
How New Telegraph assisted in locating
stolen baby
Stanley Ihedigbo
A husband, Emeka Akire and his wife, Rejoice Akire,
recently walked into the New Telegraph Newspaper office, at ACME road,
Agindigbin, Ikeja, to declare how God used the media house to locate their
missing baby.
The couple was all smiles as they happily made their
way into the reception area, seeking for the whereabouts of the writer of their
story, Stanley Ihedigbo and the Daily Editor, Ayodele Ojo.
Although the incident occurred in Port Harcourt,
Rivers State, but the New Telegraph Newspaper, using its network, was able to gather
the intricacies of the case and weaved them together.
The eight-month-old baby, Chinwendu
was stolen by the couple’s neighbour, Innocent
Ndubusi. The suspect stole the baby exactly seven months after moving into an
apartment in the building the couple resides.
Rejoice
said that her life shattered and had appeared to be on hold after she
discovered that her baby had been stolen.
The
incident occurred at 104, Afam Road, Oyigbo, Rivers State. Rejoice said: “It
happened on December 28, 2017. Some minutes after I came out with my child, our
neighbour, Ndubusi, came out from his apartment. We greeted each other. It was
in the morning. I was washing clothes. He requested to assist me hold my child,
while I continued with my washing. I handed the baby to him.
“He
asked me if I had N200, so that he would give my daughter N500. I told him that
I didn’t. He then said that he wanted to buy airtime outside. He left the
compound to the next building, where they sell recharge cards. I thought he
went to buy recharge cards. That was how he disappeared with my daughter.”
Emeka
said: “After endless waiting, we went to Oyigbo Police Station to report the
case. The police went to his house with a search warrant. They discovered that
he had taken out some important items out of the house. He left the door net
open and locked the main door. He did this, so that people would think he
didn’t go far. Before he stole my daughter, he deliberately sent his family away.”
It took the couple months to locate the stolen baby,
thanks to the efforts of the Department of State Security (DSS). Today, the
couple, who had been crying for months, is now laughing, while the rescued
child responded with a beaming smile.
Emeka said: “We came to thank New Telegraph
Newspaper, for supporting us through their reportage. The newspaper report
assisted us to make some contacts when our daughter was abducted. My wife and
I, as well as other family members appreciate the newspaper. We’re grateful to the
newspaper and the workers. It was after the newspaper report, that so many
people became aware that our daughter was stolen. Many people started assisting
us to look for the child and the man that took her. My wife and I made a vow to
come to thank this media organization after our daughter was found. We’re
grateful to God. He alone made everything possible.”
Emeka added: “I want to thank every Nigerian who
prayed for us, while we were looking for our daughter. Let me also used this
opportunity to thank the Rivers State DSS command, under the leadership of Mr.
Kingsley for their efforts in finding our daughter. DSS operatives went to Onuimo
in Imo State to arrest the first person that bought our daughter from Ndubuisi
for N450, 000. The first buyer went to Rivers State to sell our baby to one
Esther for N500, 000. And Esther later sold her to a childless couple for N850,
000 at Cross Rivers.”
Rejoices said: “When my daughter was found, DSS
called me. I didn’t believe it at first, because I thought I would never see
her again. It was already pass four months that she was stolen. I supported my
husband’s suggestion to come to New Telegraph and thank the correspondent and
the management for their support. They published our story even with pictures
of our stolen daughter.”
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