Cultists assassinate hotel manager in Kwara

• Sources familiar with the incident said no sooner had he emerged from his room than the assailants shot him at close range on the chest

Suspected cult members of the Eiye Confraternity have killed the manager of a hotel in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

The deceased, who was identified as Anthony Balogun, was shot dead on Thursday after the cultists stormed the hotel.

Balogun was said to be running the hotel owned by his mother before his murder inside the premises of the hotel located in Olunlade area of the Ilorin metropolis.

Two gunmen were said to have entered the hotel and asked to see the manager.

The deceased, who thought that they were potential customers, came out of his room to meet them at the reception.

Sources familiar with the incident said no sooner had he emerged from his room than the assailants shot him at close range on the chest.

They were said to have also hacked him on the head, hands and legs with cutlass after some gunshots.

Kwara State Police Commissioner, Victor Olaiya, who confirmed the incident to newsmen on Friday in Ilorin.

He stated that it was the outcome of the 8/8 cultists activities after the 7/7 celebration of another confraternity known as Aiye.

Addressing journalists in Ilorin at the police command headquarters, the commissioner who described the case as a fresh one after the efforts of the police to mitigate the fallout of the nationwide hunger protests in the state, assured that the culprits would be hunted and brought to justice.

The case was reported at the Ganmo Divisional Police Station, close to Ilorin, while the body of the deceased was deposited at the Kwara State General Hospital, upgraded as the Kwara state University Teaching Hospital, Ilorin.