Suspected cultists hack Ibadan Poly graduate to death, injure friend

The lifeless body of a 35-year-old man, Idris (surname withheld a.k.a. Satio, suspected to) have been killed by cultists in Eiye Confraternity on Thursday, was on Friday found dumped at the centre of a road along a bush path that leads to Ologuneru Community, Railway area, Apete-Akufo Road.

Tribune Online gathered that Idris was attacked at about 7:30 p.m. at the Morubo area on his way from a friend’s baby naming ceremony,, which he attended with another friend, Sodiq.

It was learnt that Sodiq was also attacked and inflicted with deep cuts on the neck at the back side, but managed to escape by the whiskers.

Idris’s whereabouts were unknown until his body was discovered at a far distance from the spot where he had been attacked, with machete cuts on his head.

According to the information gathered by Tribune Online, Idris allegedly belonged to the Neo Black Movement (NBM), also known as Aye Confraternity, and was killed by members of a rival cult group, Eiye Confraternity.

The deceased was said to be a Mechanical Engineering graduate from The Polytechnic, Ibadan.

Before he was murdered by the assailants, Idris was married with a son.

The deceased’s friend, Sodiq, narrated his experience: “On Thursday, Idris invited me to the baby naming ceremony of one guy popularly called Oba Asewo at Morubo area of Apete. We met at Sango and proceeded to the event. At almost 7:30p.m., we left the ceremony and were walking along the road looking for a commercial motorcyclist.

“Suddenly, we were stopped by three guys standing by the roadside. They told Idris: ‘Satio, we came here looking for you. Let us have a chat with you.’ As I moved ahead to wait until they would finish the discussion, I heard one of them say: ‘don’t allow that guy to leave,’ referring to me. On hearing that, I wanted to run away from perceived danger but three of them in front of me gave me a slide on my legs. I fell down and was struck on the neck with a weapon which I can’t really say if it was a machete or a knife.

“I struggled to get up and started running, crying for help. One of them said: ‘get him,’ again referring to me. As another one made an attempt to grab me, I gave him a hard push against a fence, scaled the fence, and ran despite the wounds I sustained. I couldn’t see the faces of the assailants because it was already dark, and I was seeking safety.

“I ran into some quarters and a guy asked me not to shout, urging me to enter his room until the assailants would leave. Then, I was bleeding heavily. I was feeling weak from the loss of blood. The guy who saved me urged me not to wait for long before going for quick medical attention. However, I was so afraid to leave because I was not familiar with the area.

“Later, when I got out of the place I hid, I waved down a motorcyclist but he refused to stop out of fear, as he saw me soaked in blood. The second one stopped and I quickly told him that I was not a criminal. He didn’t argue with me but just told me to mount the bike. I became afraid again, thinking that he could be one of my attackers. But he told me: ‘Calm down. I will not do anything bad to you. Something like that had happened to me in the past.’

“He took me through corners while I kept looking back. The man I first stayed with had given me a cloth to cover my head so that the gaping injury site would not be seen by people. Fortunately, I was able to leave Apete. I was taken to my mother and immediately she saw me, she took me to a hospital where I was attended to, and the wounds were stitched.

“I narrated the incident to the medical personnel and they asked me to get a police report. I had two phones but the attackers collected one of them, a Samsung S10, in which I had the numbers of Idris’s family members, so I couldn’t call them. And I didn’t know what had happened to him. All that time, I was anxious to know if Idris was also able to escape.

“In the morning, I initially went to Ojoo police station to report the incident but was directed to Apete police station where it occurred. Then, I didn’t know that they had already killed Idris. I was later called back and asked for the type of cloth my friend. I told the police.”

It was further learnt that immediately Sodiq reported at Apete police station, the Divisional Police Officer in charge started making enquiries until he got information that a lifeless body was seen on the ground at Railway area, and on getting there, the deceased’s body was seen, with machete cuts on his head.

Sodiq said that he got to know Idris about seven years ago at Ventura Mall on Sango-UI Road. “From there, I noticed that he took Islamic religion seriously. He used to pray so much, and was deep in Quranic studies. He was the one teaching me Arabic language. Even, he insisted we pray at 4p.m. in a mosque at Sango before we left for the naming ceremony. He said he would have peace at the ceremony after carrying out his religious duty. Till now, I don’t know the reason he was just murdered. He was not a troublesome person,” he said.

After learning of the incident, the deceased’s family members went to Apete police station and demanded for his corpse for immediate Islamic burial rites, saying that they were not interested in further investigation.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Olayinka Ayanlade, confirmed the story.

The PPRO said a police investigation revealed that the deceased was a known cultist and was murdered as a result of cult clash.

He added that the investigation is ongoing to arrest the perpetrators of the act.