Attack in Ikorodu Claims Lives of Young Men

A 22-year-old man, Abdulmalik Bakare, and two others were killed by suspected cultists in the Oreta community of Ikorodu, Lagos State.

Tunde Bakare, the father of Abdulmalik, shared in an interview with PUNCH Metro on Sunday that the killings happened on Wednesday.

He mentioned that six suspects have been arrested related to this case. He said, “The Divisional Police Officer said he would ensure that the case is thoroughly investigated.”

When our reporter visited the area on Sunday, a strange quietness filled the community.

PUNCH Metro learned that the attack followed an earlier incident involving a trailer driver and some suspected hoodlums at Gbogbo Road.

A local resident, who gave his name as Fasasi, told our reporter that the violence began around 8pm when armed men rode into the community on motorcycles and started shooting at residents.

According to him, the trouble started earlier in the day when some youths stopped a trailer carrying a container and demanded money from the driver.

He said, “It started in the afternoon. The driver of a trailer carrying a container was stopped at Gbogbo by some boys who wanted to collect money from him. The driver said they had paid. Their Chinese owners said they had paid N350,000 to their bosses at the junction.”

“But they refused. While they were dragging it at the junction, one of the area boys who climbed the trailer was trapped under the tyre and died. The police said they settled it and that it was an accident.”

Fasasi claimed that some youths organized themselves and later attacked the community in revenge.

He added, “In the night, they gathered their gang members and stormed the community on motorcycles. They came to Oreta and started shooting.”

“The boy was about to close his shop when they killed him. They also killed a physically challenged child who was eating. They started breaking shops and smashing glass doors. A person who came to buy fish was also killed.”

At the time of this report, the names of the other two victims were not known.

The resident mentioned that the attack caused fear in the community, leading many to flee for safety and disrupting business activities.

Efforts to get a response from the Lagos State Police Command were unsuccessful. Calls and text messages sent to their spokesperson, Abimbola Adebisi, were not answered as of the time of filing this report.