A 22-year-old man, Abdulmalik Bakare, and two other persons have been reportedly killed by suspected cultists who invaded the Oreta community in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State.

The father of the deceased, Tunde Bakare, said in an interview with PUNCH Metro on Sunday that the incident occurred on Wednesday.

According to him, six suspects have been arrested in connection with the case.

He said, “The Divisional Police Officer said he would ensure that the case is thoroughly investigated.”

When our correspondent visited the community on Sunday, an eerie calm hung over the area.

It was gathered that the attack followed an incident that occurred earlier in the day involving a trailer driver and some suspected hoodlums at Gbogbo Road.

A resident, identified simply as Fasasi, told our correspondent that the violence erupted around 8pm when armed men stormed the community on motorcycles and opened fire on residents.

According to him, the crisis began in the afternoon when some youths allegedly stopped a trailer conveying a container and demanded money from the driver.

He said the driver insisted that his employers had already paid N350,000 to some persons at a nearby junction.

He said, “It started in the afternoon. The driver of a trailer carrying a container was stopped at Gbogbo by some boys who wanted to collect money from him. The driver said they had paid. Their Chinese owners said they had paid N350,000 to their bosses at the junction.

“But they refused. While they were dragging it at the junction, one of the area boys who climbed the trailer was trapped under the tyre and died. The police said they settled it and that it was an accident.”

He alleged that following the incident, some youths mobilised and later launched a reprisal attack on the community.

He added, “In the night, they gathered their gang members and stormed the community on motorcycles. They came to Oreta and started shooting.

“The boy was about to close his shop when they killed him. They also killed a physically challenged child who was eating. They started breaking shops and smashing glass doors. A person who came to buy fish was also killed.”

The identities of the three other victims could not be immediately ascertained at the time of filing this report.

The resident said the attack caused panic in the community, with many people fleeing for safety and business activities abruptly disrupted.

Efforts to obtain a reaction of the Lagos State Police Command were unsuccessful.

Calls and text messages sent to the command’s spokesperson, Abimbola Adebisi, were not responded to as of the time of filing this report. (Text, excluding headline: The PUNCH)

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