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fewer than 10 persons have been killed within the last three days in Akure, the
Ondo State capital, with others injured, as rival cult groups do battle over
supremacy.
Meanwhile,
the Police said over 20 suspects have been arrested in connection with crimes
in the metropolis. Among those arrested were four ex-convicts, Omololu James,
19; Ojo Odunayo, 16, and Wale Ayemowa, 18, discharged from prisons in Lagos
State after serving their sentences and Bidemi Victor 18, who served his jail sentence
in Olokuta in Akure.
The four
teenagers used an abandoned two-storey building near the state House of
Assembly as their hideout. Reports had it that the cult groups engaged in
bloody gun battles at Oke-Aro, Old Garage, NEPA Junction and Odi-Olowo areas.
It was gathered that the killing of a member of the group sparked off a
reprisal attack, which increased the casualty figures.
Vanguard reported that
four members of one of the cult groups, riding on Okada, stormed NEPA Junction
at about 9p.m. Monday, and shot their target at close range. The killing
created tension in the state capital, as streets were deserted following fear
of another reprisal attack by the other group. Speaking on the killings, the
state’s police image maker, Femi Joseph, said only three persons were killed,
while one survived gunshots during the cult war.
Joseph said the fight was as a
result of a reprisal attack by one of the groups, whose member was earlier
killed by a rival group. According to him, over 20 suspects have been rounded
up across the Akure metropolis and they include suspected cult members,
robbers, and murderers amongst others. He said the suspects are being screened
and would be charged to court as soon as the investigations were concluded.
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