Operatives of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested two suspects, Saheed Lateef and Julius Augulere, for alleged involvement in the cult clash that left five people dead in Alasiya in the Abraham Adesanya area of the Eti-Osa Local Government Area of the state on Sunday.
It was reported that two of the five corpses were beheaded; one victim was shot dead; another had his throat slit; while the last was butchered to death during the clash that started around midnight.
The police were said to have recovered only four corpses because the family of one of the victims refused to release his remains.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, confirmed the arrest of Lateef and Augulere in a statement, adding that an axe with bloodstains was recovered from the suspects at their place of residence on No. 13 Obodo Street Okeiranla, Langbasa, Ajah, Lagos.
He stated that the suspects had confessed to the crime, adding that the four corpses recovered had machete cuts and had been deposited in a public mortuary for autopsy.
Elkana said, “On Sunday, April 14, 2019, around 8.45am, the Ogombo Police Station received a distress call that rival cults engaged in a supremacy clash along Abraham Adesanya, Lekki-Epe Expressway and four members of the Eiye Confraternity were killed by the Aiye Confraternity members.
“Two suspects, Saheed Lateef, 21, and Julius Augulere, 20, both of No. 13 Obodo Street Okeiranla, Langbasa, Ajah, Lagos and members of the Aiye Confraternity were arrested in connection with the case and they confessed to the crime.
“One axe with blood stains was recovered from the suspects. The four corpses were evacuated and deposited in a public mortuary for autopsy. All the corpses had machete cuts, with one of the corpses’ head severed but not taken away. Investigation is ongoing. The command has launched a manhunt of the other fleeing cult members.”