Panic has gripped residents of Ajelogo/Mile 12 community of Lagos State following the violence unleashed in the area by rampaging cult groups.
Our correspondent, who visited the community, gathered that frequent reprisal attacks by the members of the different cult groups have created fear in the community.
The violent clashes,it was gathered, had been between Eiye and Aye cult groups.
A resident, who spoke with our correspondent, said two people were killed in the last one week while several others were injured.
He added that the clashes, which have now become the order of the day in the area, occurs almost daily.
“There is no peace in this area again due to the daily activities of the cultists. This has started since the Endsars started. They took advantage of the crisis and since then they have been killing themselves. The painful thing is that they sometimes venture into robbery, when they start and they notice that residents take to their heels. Some of them now lay ambush on passersby at night and snatch their belongings. We have called on police but not much has been done”, a resident Omotayo Oriade said.
Another resident, Lateef Daramola, said despite the deployment of police operatives in the area to restore peace, the cult groups have yet to sheath their sword.
According to him “We are currently calling on government and police to do more to restore peace in this area. These boys have turned to terror for us. In the last one week, they have killed two people with many injured. They now strike both daylight and at night. Their activities recently have kept us in serious fear.”
Meanwhile, our correspondent, who was in the area on Sunday, observed police operatives stormed the area in several vehicles. Some of the hoodlums were also seen running for their lives. But some of the hoodlums in creeks in the area were arrested.
A commercial driver, Mutiu, who also spoke with our correspondent, said, “We want more of this operation from the police. Peace must be restored in this area. We drivers also pay part of the prices at night. My phone was collected on this road last Tuesday and I was beaten seriously by these young boys. I couldn’t do anything when I spotted guns in their hands”.
Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said several hoodlums had been arrested recently in different creeks in the state.
The PPRO said, “Though I am not aware that people were killed, I can tell you that different hoodlums terrorising different communities in Lagos are being arrested. In that area, Ketu/Mile 12, our men have arrested some of those hoodlums in that area. Even this morning, some of them were arrested in Ikorodu, Lekki and other areas. That area is covered by Ketu Division as well as Owode Onirin.
“But currently, this issue is not limited to a jurisdiction, they are all working to restore peace in Lagos communities. With the initiative of our CP our efforts are yielding and we will not rest until Lagos is made a safe heaven.”