A security guard, identified simply as Godwin, has reportedly been killed by suspected cultists in the Abule Ijesha area of Yaba, Lagos State.
The incident, which occurred on Saturday evening, reportedly threw residents into panic as gunshots rang out in the neighbourhood.
A police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment on the matter, said the attackers arrived in a vehicle, confronted the victim near his place of work and shot him in the head before allegedly attacking him with an axe.
“We received a report that gunmen suspected to be cultists killed a security guard identified as Godwin in the area. The assailants came in a vehicle and shot him not far from his duty post. Eyewitnesses also reported that they attacked him with an axe,” the source said.
The source added that the gunmen fired several shots into the air as they fled the scene, triggering panic among residents and passersby.
Police authorities have since commenced an investigation into the killing, with efforts underway to identify and arrest those responsible for the attack.
Meanwhile, an anti-cultism platform, Naija Confra, claimed in a post seen on Sunday that three other persons sustained gunshot wounds during the incident.
According to the platform, “Eyewitnesses reported that the attackers came in a white Mercedes-Benz, shot at Ibadan, and then attacked him with an axe on the head and hand.
“The attackers were also said to have fired randomly at other people in the area, leaving three innocent girls with bullet wounds. It is unclear whether their random shooting killed another person.”
The Lagos State Police Command has yet to verify the reported injuries or any additional casualties linked to the attack.
Attempts to obtain an official reaction from the command’s spokesperson, CSP Abimbola Adebisi, were unsuccessful, as calls to her phone line went unanswered, while a text message sent to her had not been responded to as of the time of filing this report.