No fewer than 40 suspects have been arrested in different parts of Ogun State by the police over the killings carried out by cultists at Igode and Fakale communities, in Sagamu Local Government Area of the state.

The suspects were said to have been arrested in Sagamu, Ijebu Igbo, Emuren, and Ago Iwoye.

Some Aye cult members had laid siege to Igode and Fakale communities, killing no fewer than 11 persons to commemorate the anniversary.

The cultists had gone for a rival group, Eiye Confraternity, but killed innocent residents in the melee.

They were said to have inscribed “7/7” on their victims’ heads as a sign of the celebration.

The masked hoodlums on motorcycles, reportedly from Emuren, a neighbouring community, had killed three welders returning from a worksite, before proceeding to Fakale, where they opened fire on a crowd watching a football match at a viewing centre.

Seven persons were killed in the process while four others were seriously injured and admitted to a hospital in Sagamu.

While returning to their base in Emuren, the miscreants chased a man identified simply as Otamali to his apartment in Igode, hacked him with cutlasses and shot him dead.

They also shattered windows of houses and vandalised cars.

In the wake of the attacks, many residents had fled the affected communities out of fear while commercial activities had been paralysed.

However, the head of Igode community, Chief Rafiu Disu, said some dwellers had started returning as the security situation of the area had improved.

Disu added that some youths suspected to have perpetrated the crime had been arrested.

Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said seventeen out of the forty suspects were arrested at the Emuren axis and the remaining ones were nabbed at Ijebu Igbo and Ago Iwoye.

Adejobi said the command also got information that the Aye Confraternity members were mobilising to storm Sagamu again on Friday for another attack, but quickly the command instructed the Divisional Police Officer in Sagamu and his men to mount security checkpoints on the Sagamu-Ijebu Ode Highway.

According to him, the command also had a hint that some traditional rulers in the affected communities were aiding and promoting the cult groups, warning that any of them found culpable would be dealt with according to the law.

He also said the command had zero tolerance for cultism and would do everything to nip their activities in the bud.

Adejobi said the cause of the fracas was the killing of a goat that a rival group was preparing for a festival.