A hotel manager identified as Anthony Balogun has been fatally shot dead by gunmen believed to be affiliated with a cult group in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State.

It was reported that the assailants approached the manager at close range and shot him before brutally cutting his lifeless body with matchet, an act widely regarded as a cult-related assault

The victim was managing the hotel owned by his mother at the time of the tragic event.

This incident occurred around 8 p.m. on Thursday within the hotel premises situated in the Olunlade area of Ilorin.

Reliable reports indicate that two gunmen entered the hotel and requested to see the manager.

Mistakenly believing they were potential customers, Balogun exited his room to meet them at the reception. It was then that the attackers lured him outside and shot him in the chest at close range.

Sources within the hotel have disclosed that the assailants assaulted the hotelier with a machete, inflicting wounds to his head, hands, and legs before fleeing the scene.

A senior sister of the deceased, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed the occurrence stating that she had reported the matter to the police.

According to her, “I called him around 6:30 p.m., and at about 7 pm, he called me back, wanting to pass a piece of information to me. I told one of the children to pick up the call and that I would call him back as I was in the kitchen.

“At about 8 p.m., I returned his call, but the phone had been switched off. I repeated it three times to no avail.

“A few minutes later, the wife called me that I should come to the Kwara State General Hospital, now Kwara State University Teaching Hospital, Ilorin.

It was at the hospital I met his lifeless body, badly mutilated.”

A source at the Ganmo Divisional Police Station, Ilorin outskirt, where the case was reported, described the incident as a case of possible homicide.

However, the State Police Command is yet to issue any official statement regarding the incident.