A suspected cultist/murder suspect, Owolabi Oludipe, a.k.a Somori, was fatally shot on Sunday, January 31, 2021, during an exchange of gunfire with police operatives from Odogbolu Division.
This was disclosed by the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi on Monday, February 1.
The suspect had reportedly been on the wanted list of the Command, before he was sighted at Ita-Ado area of Odogbolu while planning another attack with other members of Aiye cult group within the community, Thenewsbearer learnt.
Oyeyemi said that a distress call was made to the Divisional Police Officer at Odogbolu division, which made him to mobilise his men to move to the scene.
“On seeing the policemen, the cult gang engaged them in a shootout, resulting in their leader “Somori” being shot and injured, while others escaped into the bush with their operational weapons.
“The injured suspect was taken to hospital, but died while receiving treatment,” the PPRO stated.
He said that the deceased had been on wanted list of the Command in connection with the death of one Runsewe Segun, an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), who was murdered in cold blood on November 14, 2020, and one Sunday Kayode Adegbuyi who was also killed on February 16, 2020.
The PPRO added that Somori was also responsible for the killing of a rival Eiye cult group leader, named Shoyombo Sanyaolu Fakoya, on November 11, 2020 during a supremacy battle between the two groups.
He was said to have confessed to all the killings on the hospital bed before he gave up the ghost, while assorted charms which he donned, two live cartridges and a mobile phone were recovered from him.
It will be recalled that another suspected serial killer terrorizing Ijebu Ode and its environs was neutralized by operatives of the command early in January.
The state Commissioner of police, Edward A. Ajogun, who praised his men for their gallantry display, has ordered that efforts should be intensified to apprehend the rest of the cult members.
He also directed a 24-hour surveillance on the town and its environs, in order to checkmate the activities of hoodlums.
