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Some hoodlums, suspected to be cult members, have killed a 25-year-old Islamic cleric, Alfa Rahmon Alabi, in the Ayobo area of Lagos State.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the Iseyin, Oyo State indigene, was on his way to a late night prayer on Thursday when the gang members accosted him.
They were said to have asked him to buy them some hemp, but he refused and allegedly abused the men, saying it was against his faith as a Muslim.
It was learnt that the hoodlums became angry and attacked him.
He was said to have been dispossessed of his phone before he was stabbed to death.
A friend of the victim, who asked not to be named, said Rahmon was attacked when he got to a junction where the cultists had their hideout.
He said, “Alfa was very popular around here and we all loved him. He had nothing to do with cultism. In fact, he served as the muezzin and also woke people up with songs every morning for the Sahur, preparatory to the fasting.
“On Thursday night around 10pm, he said he was going for prayer. When he got to Kaka Junction, the cult members stopped him and told him to buy hemp for them.
“He refused and said he was on his way to the mosque for a prayer. He showed them his Quran as a proof.
“Then the cultists said if he knew what was good for him, he would but the hemp because they were Eiye members (cultists).
“He replied them and said, ‘The Eye (birds) I know do not live with humans, they stay in the forest’. They became angry that he had the boldness to reply them.
“They then collected his phones and stabbed him.”
It was learnt that the victim ran after the cultists in a bid to get one of them, but couldn’t.
PUNCH Metro learnt that Rahmon, who was married with three children, also worked as a bricklayer.
His corpse was said to have been deposited at a morgue.
The victim’s widow, Kabirat Alabi, said she was shocked when she was told on Friday morning that her husband was dead.
She said, “He told me that he was going to work and he would be going for a night prayer from there. It was the following morning that I was called that he had been killed.”
The victim’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Sherifat Olubode, appealed for help from the government for Rahmon’s children.
Olubode, who said Rahmon was the only one taking care of her before his demise, asked that justice be given to him.
A community leader, Demola Olota, said four of the six cult members that perpetrated the crime had been arrested by the police.
He said, “He was going for Itikhaf, which Muslims observe 10 days to the end of the fasting period. The six cultists asked him for money for hemp, but he refused. He ran away from them, but they pursued him and stabbed him to death. Four of them have already been arrested.”
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, said he would get back to our correspondent.
But he had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.
PUNCH Metro however gathered that the case had been transferred to the State Department of Criminal Investigation.
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