Adeleke summons security chiefs over Osun cult killings

File photo: Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has summoned heads of security agencies in the state to a meeting following a spike in security breaches, particularly recent killings involving rival cult groups in the state.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Samuel Ojo, disclosed this during an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, saying the meeting would be held on Wednesday.

Ojo said the meeting would deliberate on and address the killings by suspected cultists in the state.

He added that the meeting would also discuss measures to make forests in the state safer, in view of the recent killing of an ISWAP leader in Owo, Ondo State.

“We are holding a security meeting on Wednesday, by the special grace of God, to reassure our people and put our security agencies on their toes.

“What happened in Ondo is a lesson to those criminals hibernating in the forests.

We will not take it lightly with anyone using the forest as a hideout,” he said.

He further said, “Aside from that, we are also using the meeting to address the incessant killings by rival cult groups in the past weeks.

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“We need to meet and discuss how to stop these killings by cult groups or any other violent crimes hiding under that canopy.”

The governor’s aide, who stressed the need to stop the killings to protect Osun’s corporate image, warned perpetrators of violent crimes to desist or face dire consequences.

“We need to stop it, so as not to give our state a bad name, because nobody knows what they are fighting for or why they are killing themselves,” Ojo said.

The PUNCH reports that two separate attacks by members of rival cult groups, which occurred in Osogbo, the state capital, between last Friday and Sunday, left two people dead and about five others injured.

In reaction to the latest cult attack, the Osun State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Zungura, subsequently ordered tactical teams to raid suspected criminal hideouts in Osogbo.