The Shomolu/Fadeyi neighborhood on the Lagos territory saw restored religious conflicts on Monday, November 19, sending occupants into frenzy mode, with entrepreneurs squandering brief period to shut down their shops. Eyewitnesses looked as slugs ricocheted off the wide chest of the famous cult leader, Femi Jaypron, an infamous faction leader in Fadeyi, Lagos. He shook off bullets aimed for his chest before swatting them off like flies. He shook the Lead cartridges off while shooting shots of his own. It was learnt that equal faction groups went for one another’s throats for the umpteenth time on a bustling Monday evening, in what has turned out to be ordinary in the region.
“Two people were killed around Fadeyi this night. The two dead bodies are currently at Onipanu police station. Rival cult members shot at Femi Jaypron who leads the Eiye confraternity. But the bullets refused to go in. As I speak with you, Onipanu bus stop is on lock-down and the police is screening everyone”, one eyewitness shared with newsmen.
The latest cult clash arrived on the heels of a similar one in October which claimed the life of Small Jaypron—Femi’s understudy. On October 17, 2018, members of the Aiye and Eiye confraternities clashed on the busy streets of Shomolu. As the dust settled on the mainland afterwards, two cult leaders had been gunned down by rival gang members and were lying lifelessly in pools of their own blood. A gang leader known as Yesuru, was left fighting for his life afterwards and was quickly rushed to the Igbobi Orthopaedic Hospital for prompt medical attention.
One eyewitness had said at the time that, “Yesuru, who was battling for his life after a couple of bullets found his torso, was barking orders to his boys on his way from being transferred from Shomolu General Hospital. He was telling them to continue the fight on his behalf until he returns from the hospital.”
Yesuru, it was learnt, has since been discharged from hospital and has returned to the Shomolu neighborhood, a free man. “No one is disturbing him for the atrocities he committed. Not the police, not the soldiers. No one”, says Abimbola, a resident of Shomolu.
Densely populated Shomolu, Bariga, Fadeyi, Mushin and Akoka have played host to some of the most deadly gang wars in mainland Lagos in recent times. Violent and deadly variants of cultism have become a menace in Lagos, home to some 20 million people and Nigeria’s commercial capital.
Lagos Police Commissioner, Imohimi Edgal, has blamed poor parenting for the proliferation of gun wielding cultists in the city. “I want to appeal to parents to understand that our children are the future hope of our country; if we allow them to miss it, we will have no hope and no future leaders to take over from us. What legacy are we leaving behind for our children?”, Edgal asked rhetorically. The Onipanu division of the Lagos Police Command wasn’t immediately available for comments for this story
