Etim Effiong
A man, who was identified as a tailor at Elepe in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State, was hacked to death by hoodlums suspected to be cultists.
It was learnt that the hoodlums, who were about six, went into the man’s shop and asked the apprentice to excuse them as they wanted to have a private discussion with their boss.
A source close to the shop said they heard the gunshots several times, noting that as they ran out to investigate what was the issue, they saw the tailor run out of the shop, saying, “Don’t kill me.”
According to him, the cultists shot the tailor several times without the bullets penetrating before he decided to run away to escape the onslaught.
He added that as he was running, he stumbled on an object and fell; his pursuers seized him and poured groundnut oil, which they seized from a woman, who was frying beans cake (akara) on him.
The source explained that when they noticed that he was weak and immovable, they slit his throat open with a knife before cutting his other parts of the body into pieces. He said, “We saw the men enter the shop before I later went inside to have some rest. I was aroused by the sound of the gunshots and as I rushed out, I saw people pursuing the tailor. The tailor later stumbled on an object and fell.
“It was during that time that the men seized him, took the frying pan from the woman that was frying cake beans (akra) and poured the hot oil on him. When they noticed he had become weak, they cut his throat as well as other parts of his body into pieces.
“The men, who killed him, seemed to be people he knew by the way we saw them.”
A resident, who identified herself simply as Kehinde, said the area had not known peace for a long time following cult clashes.
She said that her nephew and JSS III pupil, who was returning from school, struck iron and fell as he was also running for his dear life.
According to her, market women, shop owners and passers-by sustained injuries as they ran helter-skelter not to get caught in the hoodlums’ gunfire.
Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, SP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, could not be reached for comments as he did not answer calls made to his telephone.
He did not also respond to text message sent to his telephone.
