At least four persons have lost their lives following separate cult-related violence in the Atan-Ota area of Ogun State and the Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State.
A security operative in Ogun State, who spoke to our correspondent on Tuesday on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the Atan-Ota incident occurred around 8:00 p.m. on Monday evening.
The violence, which took place in the Kajola section of Atan-Ota, reportedly involved suspected members of rival confraternities—the Aiye and Eiye cult groups.
Intelligence sources indicate that members of the Aiye confraternity launched the assault as an apparent retaliatory strike following the death of one of their associates allegedly killed by the Eiye group.
Eyewitness accounts revealed that armed assailants descended on the neighbourhood, discharging firearms indiscriminately before fatally shooting three individuals believed to have links with the Eiye confraternity.
The security source explained that tensions had been simmering since an earlier confrontation approximately two weeks prior, during which members of the Eiye group reportedly attacked and killed an Aiye member.
“The incident involved violence between the two rival groups. Members of the Aiye confraternity carried out the attack on suspected Eiye members.
Gunshots rang out across the area, creating panic among residents before the attackers executed their targets. This violence appears to be revenge for an assault on one of their members roughly two weeks ago,” the source stated.
An anti-cultism monitoring platform on the social media platform X, identified as NaijaConfra, also documented the incident in a Tuesday publication.
According to information shared by NaijaConfra, the deadly confrontation was rooted in an ongoing feud between both groups that had already claimed one life approximately one week earlier.
The platform reported that the Aiye group, also referred to by the initials NBM, targeted locations in Popoola and Kajola—specifically revisiting the site where their member had been killed by the Eiye group, also known by the acronym ACN. The attack resulted in at least three fatalities.
NaijaConfra stated that it had verified photographic evidence from the Kajola scene, confirming that one of the deceased was an Eiye member known by the alias “Coded.” The identities of the remaining victims had not been established at the time of reporting.
In a separate but related incident in Lagos State, another fatality was recorded in the Ojo area when suspected members of the Eiye confraternity allegedly killed a prominent member of the Aiye group.
The victim, identified as Ijaya and also known as CSO, was ambushed outside his residence on ECOWAS Street on Monday night.
According to NaijaConfra’s account, Ijaya was a community security volunteer widely regarded as peaceful and well-respected within his neighbourhood.
“The victim was a well-known NBM member who served as community security personnel. He was described as peaceful, compassionate, and well-liked by residents. Sources have indicated that the Eiye group had been attempting to destabilise the area for some time. Tensions are now escalating, with fears of potential counter-attacks by the Aiye group,” the platform noted.
Efforts to obtain official comment from the Lagos State Police Command proved unsuccessful. When contacted on Monday, an individual who identified himself as the personal assistant to the state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Adebisi, stated that she was engaged in a meeting and requested that inquiries be forwarded via WhatsApp. As of Tuesday, the message had not been acknowledged.
Cult-related violence continues to pose a significant security threat across Lagos and Ogun states, with frequent outbreaks of hostilities tied to territorial disputes and supremacy contests among rival confraternities.
In August 2024, our correspondent reported that no fewer than six persons were killed during renewed hostilities between the Aiye and Eiye groups in the Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Similarly, in April 2024, three individuals were reported dead following clashes between opposing groups in the Ikorodu division of Lagos State.
Despite sustained law enforcement operations and numerous arrests by police authorities, the persistence of such violent episodes underscores the entrenched nature of cultism, particularly across Nigeria’s South-West geopolitical zone.
