Men on revenge mission kill church visitor

A 22-year-old man, Tope Kadiri, who was on a visit to his parents at an orthodox church, has been stabbed to death.

The incident happened on Wednesday morning at Aduragbemi Street, Oworonshoki area of Lagos State.

Our correspondent, who visited the street, saw traces of blood in the area where he was reportedly gagged and stabbed to death.

His corpse was said to have been taken to the Oworonsoki Police Station while his friends launched a reprisal on people said to be friends of his alleged killers.

It was gathered that the fight would have escalated but for the intervention of the Oworonshoki Police Division which restored normalcy in the area.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the fight started on Tuesday evening after the deceased had a face-off with a woman in a house sharing fence with the church building.

It was learnt that Kadiri had asked the woman not to throw dirty water from her washing bowl into the church.

When the woman’s daughter resisted, the 22-year-old was said to have pulled down some of their clothes spread on the line, which started the fight.

The woman’s children were said to have risen in defence of their mother, escalating the crisis.

A resident in the area, who pleaded anonymity, said, “The fight was settled amicably by the community leaders and both sides agreed to a truce.

“However, on Wednesday morning, a group of boys living in the woman’s house who were away when the incident happened decided to revisit it. They attacked Kadri and that was how confusion started.

“He was gagged and stabbed in the chest till he died.”

A police source told our correspondent that a man who sold foodstuff around the bus stop was attacked by Kadiri’s friends.

He was said to have been seriously injured and had to be rushed to the hospital.

“They clubbed him and broke his head. He would have died but for police intervention,” he said.

A member of the Orthodox Church, who identified himself as Isaac Adesegha, described the incident as unfortunate.

Adesegha said the church had also been attacked on the night preceding the tragedy.

While taking our correspondent round the church premises, he said, “They came and broke the window frames of the church and vandalised our property. One of the church members was stabbed in the neck, he could have died.

“What was our offence? We asked them to stop throwing water into our compound. We share a low fence with their house and they go beyond their boundary everytime. When they turn on their generators in the night, the fumes enter the residential blocks in the church. We told them to stop, but they refused to listen.

“The boy that died was just on a visit to his parents who were staying in the church.”

It was learnt that the corpse of the late Kadiri had been deposited at the mortuary, while three suspects had already been arrested.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, Ngozi Braide, when contacted on the development, said she would call our correspondent back. But she had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.

Meanwhile, our correspondent gathered that the matter had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba.