My guns are for street fights, says suspect

A 37-year-old suspected cult member and armed robber, Azeez Ajayi, a.k.a Iyalaje, arrested with two Beretta pistols and ammunition by the Lagos command anti-cultism unit on Wednesday said he kept the gun for the purposes of street fights.

Azeez was arrested alongside Omoyibo Ejovwoke, 26, of Ughelli North, Delta State at Ago Hausa Street, Ajeromi, Ajegunle, where two pistols with three rounds of live ammunition were recovered from him.

It was gathered that Azeez, who also claimed to be a member of the National Union of road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Ojora, Apapa, Iganmu areas of Lagos, was arrested following a video of him brandishing the pistol at a party organised to celebrate the emergence of the newly elected national president of NURTW, Alhaji Tajudeen Baruwa.

It would be recalled that the party, which took place on June 14 at Ijora 7-Up area ended in a bloody clash, which left one Yusuf Rilwan dead and many others injured. The suspect who also claimed to be related to a Lagos monarch told newsmen that it was one auto engineer at Ajegunle that showed him the gun on the floor and he picked it with the intention of throwing it away.

“I have been with the gun for six months but I don’t use it for anything. I am not a cultist, the mistake I made was that I didn’t take the gun to the police. I just kept it in case we start all this street fight in our area. I am a member of the NURTW, there are two factions of the union now, but I am with Baruwa caucus. Our branch chairman is Sharafadeen Okere.

“We had organised the party to celebrate our newly elected president. While the party was on, the other faction came around and started bragging that the final result has not been declared and that they would later be declared the winner. We started stoning them with broken bottles, the police later came around.”

In his reaction, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Bala Elkana, said he had earlier issued a press statement that the incident was a rival clash between members of NURTW where many sustained injuries but no life was lost.

“The Command has directed the DPO to arrest all the members that appeared in the video because the command will not tolerate any act of thuggery or hooliganism.”

However, Oba Fatai Oyeyinka Aremu Aromire, the Ojora of Ijora land and Iganmu Kingdom, Lagos told newsmen that Azeez, the suspect is in no way a lineage of Ojora.

“I know Azeez’s mother, who is a daughter of Akindele, but Azeez’s father is not an Ojora. I will like to clear that issue of his father who is from Kwara State and therefore Azeez has no right to bear Ojora. How will a woman allow her children bear her father’s name instead of her husband’s name?