The Kogi State Police Command has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of a shop owner and two others over a stolen mobile phone.
The multiple deaths were said to have occurred on Monday in the Felele area of Lokoja, the Kogi state capital
The State Public Relations Officer, DSP William Aya, told The PUNCH that the command received a distress call from Felele around 10 am on Monday, and on arrival at the scene discovered two dead bodies said to have been killed in a clash.
The PPRO explained that one Salisu Ado and Muhammad Mukaila all dead were alleged to have engaged in a fight over yet to be ascertained cause leading to their death.
He stated that Muhammed Mukaila was alleged to have stabbed Salisu Ado to death, prompting a reprisal by his relations and sympathisers who equally killed Mukaila and set his corpse ablaze.
According to Aya, two suspects Muhammed Mubarak and Suleiman Yakubu all believed to be members of the Aro Barger cult have been arrested in connection with the killings.
A witness however told our correspondent that a suspected thief who snatched a mobile phone and sneaked into a shop where the innocent shop owner was mistaken for being the thief on the run was killed by a mob, while the suspect escaped.
In a reprisal, sympathisers of the late shop owner identified one of his alleged killers, beat him to death, and set the corpse ablaze, while some persons have been taken to the hospital following injuries they sustained during the clashes.
The PPRO said that investigation into the matter had commenced as the state Commissioner of Police, Yuba Ede has ordered the transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department.
