Pregnant woman killed in Lagos cult clash

A 35-year-old pregnant woman, Risikat Saliman, was shot dead during a bloody clash between suspected cult groups at Aleke community in the Ikorodu area of Lagos on Thursday.






Eyewitnesses told journalists on Friday that dozens of suspected cultists invaded the community market at about 8:00 p.m., and started shooting sporadically, killing the woman.


The Baale of Aleke, Chief Adeniyi Okemati, who confirmed the incident, said the hoodlums gunned down the mother of two before the arrival of policemen from the Imota Division.






He said: “I don’t know why they came here and started terrorising our people.


“We want Lagos State government to intervene so that we can collectively curb the menace and allow my people to sleep with their two eyes closed.”


He appealed to the state government to intervene as a matter of urgency for the safety of lives and property in the community.






Okemati also urged residents of Aleke community to collaborate with local vigilante teams to curb insecurity in the area.


The brother of the deceased, Mr. Babatunde Saliman, told journalists that the hoodlums arrived at the market at about 8:00 p.m. and started shooting sporadically.


He added that the bullet hit the woman on the back.






Saliman said: “I saw her at the market lying in a pool of blood; some of her friends who came to the scene said she was pregnant.


“Her body has been released by the police and was taken to Ikorodu General Hospital mortuary in preparation for her final return home in Kwara State.”






    Police React
The spokesman of the Lagos State police command, Muyiwa Adejobi, who also confirmed the killing, said the clash was between members of the “Aiye and Eiye” confraternity.


He said policemen have restored normalcy to the area “while the matter had been taken to the State Criminal Invesgation Department (SCID) Panti, Lagos”.

He said the commissioner of police, Lagos State, Hakeem Odumosu, has warned “that the police will deal ruthlessly with anyone found culpable”.


“The woman was killed by stray bullet when the two rival cults of ‘Eiye’ and ‘Aiye’ engaged each other in a supremacy battle.


“The Commissioner of Police in the state, Hakeem Odumosu, has zero tolerance for cultism. Cultism breeds various other crimes wherever they exist,” he said.