A tailor has been killed in a clash between Oro traditional worshippers and worshippers at a Pentecostal church in Oko-Oba area of Agege, Lagos State.
The tailor identified as Akeem Adebisi, was killed when members of the Truth and The Spirit Prophetic Church clashed with Oro worshippers.
It was gathered that Akeem and the Oro devotees were performing their acts when they got to know that the church members were conducting a vigil.
The Oro worshippers, upon approaching the prophetess, Mercy Okocha, and her church members, reportedly instructed them to stop the vigil. An argument ensued. This led to a clash between the two sides and Adebisi was allegedly stoned to death while others sustained injuries.
The church had since been deserted by the worshippers while its property was scattered. A resident, who was identified as Alhaja Sariyu, said this was prior announcement before the Oro procession.
According to her, “After the announcement, we went indoors very early only to wake up the following day to discover that there was apprehension everywhere. The Oro procession has been on for years. So, nobody expected that this particular one was going to be bloody. As a matter of fact, the church has been there for close to five years.”
A trader alleged that the church led by Okocha was fond of conducting vigil every day, adding that it must be “the reason why the confrontation happened.”
Meanwhile, the father of the deceased, Wasiu Adebisi, 62, has regretted the death of his son in the clash. He said, “Akeem is my first male child. He is the one who always announces the preparation of the Oro festival in the town. When the incident happened, his colleagues rushed to call me in the middle of the night, and when I got there, I was told that they hit his head with a coconut.
“If they actually threw it at him from a distance, the impact would not have been that much. It looked like they held him and broke the coconut on his head. I could not bear the sight of him when I got there, I just returned home while his colleagues took him to hospital. It was in the morning that they told me that he died.”
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested the prophetess alongside nine members of the church, according to the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin. He said, “The prophetess, Mercy Okocha, 50, and nine other members of the church, have been arrested. The corpse was deposited in a mortuary for autopsy. An investigation is ongoing.”
