Seven persons have been killed following a clash that ensued between two rival cult groups in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

It was gathered that members of the Aiye and Eiye confraternities have been engaging one another in a supremacy battle since last week.

On Thursday night, March 24, a popular area boy, known as Tommy around Oluwo, was killed at Panseke, causing tension among residents.

The killing of Tommy, who was described as a leader of the Eiye cult group, was said to be in retaliation for the murder of a member of the Aiye group.

Before Tommy was hacked to death, six others had been killed by suspected rival cultists in various locations in the state capital.

Some of those killed so far include “Scatter, School Boy, Alakanni, Tommy, Azeez, Olaosebikan and Babajide.

They were reportedly killed at different locations like Asero, Kugba, Ikereku, Panseke, Adigbe, Oke Ijeun and Isale Abetu, all in Abeokuta.

Spokesperson of the State Police Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the killings in the state within the last one week, said some people have been nabbed.

Oyeyemi added that the police will now go after the landlords who harbour cultists in their houses within the state.

"We have launched a very serious operation on them. We are clamping down seriously on them. About 18 suspects have been arrested during the last encounter we had with them and we are not going to rest until we get the last person of these hoodlums, because we cannot be watching anyone making life difficult for members of the public," the PPRO stated.

“The Commissioner of Police has put all Area Commanders and all tactical team commanders on the red alert that they should go out and take the battle to the doorsteps of these hoodlums. We must fish them out one after the other.

"Any house that is harbouring any of these criminals, the landlords of such houses will be seriously dealt with. They cannot continue harbouring them and now coming out intermittently to wreak havoc. Are they pretending as if they don’t know them?"

May God save us from the cultists hand oo