By Demola Akinyemi, Ilorin

It was a bizarre sight, Friday morning in the Surulere area of Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, when a suspected cultist jumped from a police vehicle into a canal, losing his life in the process.

The suspected cultist jumped into the canal from a moving police van and was confirmed dead shortly after his remains were recovered by officers of the federal fire station.

A team of police officers from B Division, Surulere, had on a tip-off gone to Baboko, Surulere and Ojatuntun areas of Ilorin to quell a clash between two rival cult groups in the area and made some arrest.

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Vanguard reliably gathered that the police arrested no fewer than twelve suspected cultists in order to restore peace in the areas.

It was however gathered that some aggrieved cultists who escaped arrest, immediately mobilised to attack the police station at Surulere in a bid to forcefully effect the release of their members.

The cultists were however overpowered as the police resisted their attempts, with the arrested suspects moved to the police headquarters at Ahmadu way, Ilorin.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Kwara command, SP Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed the incident.

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Okasanmi said “We had gone to put a situation under control this morning involving two cult groups and we made some arrests.

“These boys mobilised themselves and began to attack the police, as a result of one of them jumped inside a canal in Surulere while trying to evade arrest.

“We called the Fire Service to retrieve the body but the boys came to disrupt them and then later the police retrieved the corpse from the cult guys.

“Maybe those people you saw at the headquarters came to express their grief over the death of one of them,” Okasanmi said.

He however said the police has launched an investigation into the matter to unravel the mystery.

Vanguard News Nigeria