The Osun State Police Command said on Thursday that it had arrested some suspects in connection with the bloody cult clashes involving rival cult groups in Ilesa, in the eastern part of the state.
This was a sequel to the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke’s directive on Wednesday urging security agencies in the state to end violent attacks in Ilesa that have led to the deaths of about five residents in less than one week.
Our correspondent reports that about five people were killed between Sunday and Tuesday at Imo, Sabo/Irojo Junction, and Oke Omiru—all within the Ilesa metropolis—by Aye and Eye cult groups battling for supremacy in the town.
Some residents of the community, during an interview, lamented the negative effects of the killings on the socio-economic activities in the town and blamed the development on the supremacy battle between two rival cult groups operating in the town.
Adeleke, in a Wednesday statement signed by the governor’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, described the killing spree as ‘shocking and reprehensible,’ calling on the police service and other security agencies to act decisively to stop the cult clashes.
He said, “I have been duly briefed on the developments in some parts of Ijeshaland. We will no longer tolerate actions capable of disrupting the peaceful atmosphere in the state. We will not allow any group or individual to use their internal wars to endanger public peace