Cultists kill NURTW official

Suspected cultists have shot dead an executive of the National Union of Road Transport Worker in Lagos State.
The supremacy battle and killing by suspected cultists in Shomolu, Mushin, Yaba, Surulere and Bariga areas of the State continued unabated.
The deceased, identified as 35-year-old Monsuru Taiye Seriki, popularly known as Sempe, was shot dead on his way home on Thursday night.

The late Sempe

According to an eyewitness who requested anonymity, Taiye, who was the Financial Secretary of the Unit at Mushin, left the Union Toll gate office along the railway line at about 9.30pm on a motorcycle, but was shot dead before he got home.
Narrating the incident, the source said: “Taiye got to the Junction of his house but as he alighted from the okada, about ten men who had been lurking in the neighbourhood accosted him and shot sporadically at him. They watched him die and pushed his body to ensure he was dead then they fled the scene.
“After they left, residents who had scampered for safety when the gun was being fired, came out and saw his lifeless body.”
The source added that, on Wednesday, the deceased had received a phone call from some cultists who accused him of waging war against a rival gang.
“The whole killing you see is about transport workers fighting over leadership positions. They engage in cultism to gain support and provoke fear. The free and illegal money they get is the root of the killings,” the source said.
Tension in Mushin
When contacted, the Deputy Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police Command, Damasus Ozoani, said the police were not aware of the killing of the NURTW executive.
“I have called the Oloasan police station at Mushin and the Area Commander but they said nothing of such was reported. The police cannot work if we are not aware of a case. If indeed such a thing happened we can only act when we are aware,” he said.
Residents in the area alleged that, in recent times, four suspected cultists have been brutally murdered by rival gangs.
According to them, three of the killings took place at Kusa, Johnson and Famous in Bariga.