At least four people have been killed in separate cult clashes in the Atan-Ota area of Ogun State and the Ojo area of Lagos State.
It was learnt on Tuesday from a security source in Ogun State that the incident at Atan-Ota occurred on Monday night at about 8 p.m.
According to the source, who pleaded anonymity for his safety, the clash broke out in the Kajola area of Atan-Ota between suspected members of the Aiye confraternity and the Eiye confraternity.
The source disclosed that the attack was carried out by members of the Aiye group in what was suspected to be a reprisal for the earlier killing of one of their members by the Eiye group.
Our correspondent gathered that the assailants stormed the area and shot sporadically, killing three persons believed to be members of the Eiye confraternity.
The source said, “There was a cult clash between Aiye and Eiye. The Aiye group killed some Eiye members. When they stormed the area, they shot sporadically and caused tension before killing the victims.
“The killing is a fallout of an attack carried out by the Eiye members on an Aiye member about two weeks ago.”
Similarly, an anti-cultism advocacy page on X (formerly Twitter), NaijaConfra, shared details of the incident in a post on Tuesday.
According to NaijaConfra, the killing stemmed from an earlier conflict between the two confraternities, which had resulted in one death about a week earlier.
The page wrote, “Last night in Atan-Ota, Ogun State, the NBM (Aiye) cult group retaliated for the killing of their member in Kajola last week by launching attacks at Popoola and Kajola — the same spot where their member was killed by the ACN (Eiye) cult group. At least three people were killed in the attack.
“NaijaConfra has obtained two pictures from the Kajola attack and can confirm that one of the victims was an Eiye member nicknamed Coded. We have not yet identified the other victims.
“This cult war has been ongoing for a long time, with both sides blaming each other. While Aiye vowed to finish all of Eiye’s top men, Eiye has vowed to continue striking Aye members within the community — something they claimed they were not doing before.”
Efforts to get a reaction from the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Omolola Odutola, proved abortive, as she had yet to respond to an enquiry sent to her as of the time of filing this report.
In an earlier update by NaijaConfra on Monday, another suspected cult attack claimed the life of a security guard identified as Ijaya in the Ojo area of Lagos State.
The assailants were said to have waylaid the victim in front of his house located on ECOWAS Street before attacking him.
The post read, “Last night, a well-known and respected NBM member named Ijaya, also called CSO, was killed by the Eiye cult group in front of his home in the ECOWAS area of Ojo, Lagos State. Ijaya was a community security personnel known for being peaceful, loving, and accommodating to everyone in the neighbourhood.
“Sources confirmed that Eiye had been trying to cause unrest in the area for some time, and last night they succeeded in taking the life of a peaceful man. Tension is now rising, as there are reports of possible retaliation by Aiye.”
When our correspondent contacted the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Adebisi, on Monday, someone who identified as her personal assistant said she was in a meeting. The PA directed that our correspondent send a message to her WhatsApp, but the message had yet to be acknowledged as of Tuesday.
Cult-related killings have remained a recurring security challenge in parts of Lagos and Ogun states in recent months, often linked to supremacy battles between rival confraternities.
In August 2024, PUNCH Metro reported that at least six people were killed during renewed clashes between Aiye and Eiye cult groups in the Ifo area of Ogun State.
Similarly, in April 2024, three people were feared dead following a clash between rival groups in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State.
Despite the persistent clampdown on these groups by the police and the series of arrests, the recurring violence indicates the deep-rooted nature of the menace of cultism, especially in the South-West region.
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