A man has been arrested in connection with the killing of six members of a family in Wasinmi community on the outskirts of Ikire town, Osun State on Sunday.
Gunmen had invaded the residence of the deceased at about 3:05am, and fatally shot the family head, his two wives and three grandchildren.
The Eagle Online gathered that one other person was also injured during the attack.
The Commissioner of Police, Olawale Olokode, with the Deputy Governor of the state, Benedict Olugboyega Alabi, had visited the scene of the incident to assess the situation in the afternoon.
A member of the deceased’s household was said to have indicted the arrested man, who had allegedly claimed to belong to a local security agency, and threatened to invade the residence, kill its members and set it ablaze.
The corpses of the slain persons have since been taken to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex in Ile-Ife for autopsy.
It was gathered that the remains of the deceased would be buried in Kwara State, being Kwara Fulanis, after the release of the bodies by the hospital.
The Osun State Police Command, through its Public Relations Officer, SP Yemisi Opalola, had said in statement that discrete investigations into the incident had commenced, and that men of the command were already on the trail of the assailants to bring them to justice.
In another development, it was gathered that barely a week ago, two commuters travelling in a commercial vehicle were kidnapped by Fulani herdsmen at Egbeda area in Wasinmi at about 7pm.
The passengers were said to have been travelling from Ibadan to Ilesa in a Toyota Previa commercial vehicle, with registration number Ondo KTP 331 RG.
A source told The Eagle Online that the kidnappers dispossessed the passengers of their valuables, including phones and cash, before spiriting the driver and a passenger away on perceiving the approach of a police patrol team.
The abducted persons were said to have been released 48 hours later, after payment of ransom, which they did not disclose to law enforcement agents.
Police operatives from Ikire Division, in collaboration with vigilantes, local hunters and members of the Oodua People’s Congress were said to have had a hectic time engaging the kidnappers in a gun fight.
However, one of the bandits, Mohammed Muhammadu (20), a Sokoto State indigene, was arrested, while others escaped with gunshot wounds.
The suspect, who also received gunshot wound in the leg, and from whom a single barrel gun and three live cartridges were recovered, was said to have implicated three additional suspects arrested by the police, as members of the kidnap gang.
Three other suspects, identified as Sule Sule, Musa Nuhu and Bashiru Aliu, who were also identified by the victims as being part of their captors, vehemently denied their involvement.
The case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department in Osogbo, for further investigations.
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