A yet-to-be identified man was on Monday killed by suspected cultists in the Adeti area of Ilesha, Osun State in a reprisal.
The incident, which occurred around 10am, caused pandemonium as banks and other firms hurriedly closed.
Sources in the town said the Monday killing was in retaliation of an earlier attack on Sunday by some members of a cult called Avre.
Two men, identified simply as Solo and Bode, living in Iwara, a town in the Atakumosa East Local Government Area, who were said to be members of Avre had earlier reportedly attacked some members of Ayee cult.
They were said to have killed a member of Ayee during the attack which occurred around 7.30pm on Sunday.
However, during the Monday reprisal by members of Ayee on Avre members, one person was killed, while gunshots were heard around the Ilesha-Akure Expressway, Adeti, Olomilagbala, Ereguru, Itakogun, and Imo, forcing many residents to stay indoors.
Residents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told our correspondent that banks, filling stations, and other business places were also forced to shut down their operations.
Some residents of the Okesa area of Ilesha said some suspected cultists had around 12.30pm blocked the Roundabout/Brewery Road.
They were said to have also harassed some passersby before security operatives eventually dislodged them.
The spokesperson for Osun State Police Command, Yemisi Opalola, said one Seun Mustapha was killed by suspected cultists and when the cultists engaged in a shootout with the police patrol team along Iwara road in Ilesha, one of them was killed.
“One of the cultists named Emmanuel Adeleye was arrested with bullet wounds. Items recovered from them include two motorcycles, one pump-action gun with eight cartridges, three machetes. One Apata Seun attached to SARS was wounded but he is responding to treatment in the hospital,” she said.
