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By Christopher Oji
No fewer than three persons were killed and many others injured when suspected cultists engaged in a supremacy war in Sagamu, Ogun State.
The battle of supremacy between members of Eiye and Aiye confraternities started on Tuesday with the members shooting themselves.
It was gathered that between Tuesday and Saturday morning, three persons had been shot dead in the ongoing war with several others sustaining injuries.
Economic and commercial activities were grounded, as people closed shops while farmers were not able to go to their farms.
A victim, an attendant at Awabat filling station in Ijokun, was reportedly shot dead on Friday night.
“We don’t know if he was a cultist, we don’t know what happened. We just saw that he was shot dead by cultists. He was a petrol attendant at Awabat in Ijokun,” a source in Sagamu said.
The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed that three persons were killed in the melee, adding that many of the cultists had been arrested by the police.
“Yes, three persons were killed in Sagamu by cultists. But we have arrested many of them. The Commissioner of Police has directed our tactical teams to be on standby. We have started trailing those involved and many are in custody. We are clamping on them, more will still be arrested,” Oyeyemi assured.
On Friday, Governor Dapo Abiodun held a security meeting in Sagamu, declaring that henceforth, his administration would treat cultists in the state as terrorists.
The governor announced the establishment of a Joint Intervention Squad made up of operatives of the military, police, the Department of State Security (DSS), Civil Defence and local vigilantes, to deal with cultism and other related crimes, especially in Sagamu and other parts of the state.
He said the squad would be provided with the necessary equipment while its headquarters would be sited in the Sagamu Local Government Area of the state.
Abiodun said: “I am declaring cult members, cult activities here as an act of terrorism, I am taking these as a test of this administration’s will. I have sounded a note of warning at times past, I am resounding a fresh note of warning to all cult members, to their parents, to their landlords, to their sponsors.
“From today, we are considering cult members and other criminals as saboteurs to the economy of not just this local government, this town, but this state. We will consider them as terrorists, I will deal with them as such. I have instructed our law enforcement agencies to smoke these people out, I have told the Commissioner of Police that he has no other job until every single member of this cult is found out.
“I am still trying to figure out what is the basis, motive and reason behind these cultist activities in Ogun State, particularly in Sagamu and Remoland. We will collaborate with our Royal Majesties and Royal Highnesses in our resolve to bring long-lasting peace to this local government.”
