9th February, 2011
Hundreds of Epe residents have protested the killing of a housewife, Funke Yusuf, by cult groups in the town.
The protesters who carried the corpse of the woman to the palace of the Oloja of Epe, Oba Kamorudeen Ishola Animashaun and the secretariat of the Epe Local Government Area also vandalised properties in places visited to demonstrate their anger at the killing of innocent residents in Epe by people suspected to be cultists and the inability of their leaders to stop them.
The protesters broke all the doors and windows of the local government guest house before the police arrived and dispersed them.
The corpse was later taken to the Ijebu-Ode General Hospital.
Investigations revealed that the housewife was shot during a clash between members of the Eiye Confraternity and Aye. Guns, cutlasses, axes and knives were reportedly used during the clash.
The deceased who lived on 8, Odofin Street, Ajagunabe village in Epe town was said to be coming out of the bathroom when she was hit by a stray bullet. She died before she could be rushed to the hospital.
P.M.NEWS gathered that residents were forced to lock themselves inside their houses during the clash by the warring groups. The combatants were later subdued by policemen from the Rapid Response Squad who arrested some of them, including Seyi, a.k.a. Pencil who allegedly fired the shot that killed the woman.
Narrating how his wife was killed, the husband, Yusuf said: “I was at the back of my house around 5 p.m. on Friday when I heard sporadic gun shots and people running helter-skelter. I quickly rushed inside with my children and locked all the doors, unknown to me that my wife was in the bathroom outside.
”The next thing I saw was one of the cultists breaking into my house and asking me ‘where is the man that ran inside the house.’ I told him nobody entered my house and he went outside. Later, I heared a gun shot and I peeped through the window. I saw my wife on the ground in a pool of blood. I ran outside and raised an alarm which attracted neighbours who assisted me in rushing her to the hospital, but she died on the way.
”I am begging Governor Fashola and the state Commissioner of Police to apprehend the killers. How am I going to take care of the three-month old baby she left behind. These cultists have been killing people in Epe for too long and nobody can arrest them.”
Commenting on the incident when P.M.NEWS visited his palace, Oba Animashaun said: “I do not know why they (protesters) brought a corpse to my palace knowing fully well that an Oba should not set his eyes on a corpse. They vandalized my palace and vehicles for nothing. The protest was led by one Rasak Kamorudeen and his gang. They told me to sign a paper to authorise them to kill anybody in Epe. I refused. Since then, they have been after my life.”
On measures being taken to curb the incessant killings in Epe by cultists, Oba Animashaun said he has been working with other traditional rulers in the town to find a lasting solution to the problem. He appealed to the government to come to the aid of the town in this regard.
In his own comment, the Olu of Epe, Oba Shefiu Olatunji Adewale, called on wealthy Epe indigenes and Governor Babatunde Fashola to bring empowerment schemes to Epe town to curb cultism. ”If the youths are engaged, the problem of cultism will be reduced,” he stated.