By Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
Youths, suspected to be cultists in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on Tuesday engaged themselves in a fierce gun duel and at the end left many seriously wounded.
The clash, which happened at Adeta, Isale Jagun and Kuntu area of the ancient city, started as early as 6 o’ clock in the morning, for reasons that as the time of filing this report, no one could say.
By noon on Tuesday, not less than 12 cars, including comnercial and privately onwned vehicles, were damaged, but no life had been recorded lost, except those seriously wounded and taken to the hospital.
There had been series of cult clashes of late in the state, especially, in Ilorin, the state capital and Offa, in Offa Local Government Area.
Reacting to the development, the Kwara State Police Command, through its Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Ajayi Okasanmi, said that the Command received “a disturbing information of the unruly behavior of some youths in Adeta, Isale Jagun and Kuntu areas of Adewole today, at about 0600hrs.”
He added that the information prompted the Commissioner of Police, Tuesday Assayomo, to quickly “dispatch a detachment of police men to the area to restore peace and arrest the perpetrators of the near breakdown of law and order in the area.”
Okasanmi said, “Investigation on the matter is ongoing to unravel the remote and immediate cause(s) of the crisis that led to damage to some vehicles parked on the affected streets by the unruly youth.”
Meanwhile, Okasanmi disclosed that three suspects had been arrested by the police, pointing out that there was no report of any casualty yet.
Also, he said the Commissioner of Police had ordered the state Criminal Investigation Department, CID, to take over the case “for a discreet investigation.”
The CP, he added, also warned that anybody arrested in connection with this crisis and any other one for that matter, would be made to face the full wrath of the law.
