A former Chief Security Officer, CSO, of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State, Ahmed Olalekan, and an Ordinary Diploma, OD, student of the institution, identified as Alex Makun, have been killed by cultists.
The former CSO was allegedly traced to his residence in Apete, Ibadan, and shot dead. Olalekan, a graduate of the institution, was shot in the neck on Monday by suspected members of Aiye confraternity.
An eyewitness said, yesterday, in Ibadan that the suspected assailants inflicted some machete cuts on the deceased before they fled. The death of the former CSO, who had been behind the clampdown on cultism in the institution, enraged his colleagues, who blocked vehicular traffic along the Sango-Eleyele Road, Ibadan. Because of the incident, only few students were on campus yesterday, while virtually all the lecture halls were empty.
The school security operatives were on patrol, with some posted at strategic locations to prevent breakdown of law and order. On Alex, he was said to be a student of Urban and Regional Studies of the institution and was said to be on his Industrial Training programme before his death.
An eyewitness claimed that Apete Youth Forum “is a group of youths reputed for checking activities of cultists in the area. The student killed was not a cultist, as much as I know. “He was popular for tackling and preventing the activities of cult members.”
The killing of the student caused pandemonium in the community as members of Apete Youth Forum took to the streets of Apete to protest the death of their colleague, leading to a gridlock in the agrarian community with several motorists stranded, yesterday.
Fracas among cult groups in Apete community has become a recurring decimal, because students from the polytechnic make up 60 percent of the community’s population. The Public Relations Officer of the polytechnic, Mr. Soladoye Adewole, could not be reached for comments. However, Oyo State Police Command, said about nine suspects had been arrested in connection with the murders.
The Police Commissioner, Mr. Abiodun Odude, said: “The incident resulted from a cult war. We have arrested nine persons in connection with it and we are going to charge them to court after investigation
Source:Vanguard
