Residents of Apapa-Iganmu Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Lagos are seeking Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s help to tighten security in their community, following frequent rival cult groups clashes.

They made the plea on Thursday via a statement issued on their behalf by the Human Rights Monitoring Agenda (HURMA).

They said the menace was creating insecurity, adding that there is an urgent need for the government and the police to take action against the cultists.

HURMA’s Executive Director, Comrade Buna Olaitan-Isiak, who signed the statement, said the cultists adopt “intimidation, molestation and unwarranted show of force”, to frighten off law-abiding citizens.

Olaitan-Isiak said the cultists hide under the cover of their supremacy clashes to loot residents’ homes and shops and assault women and girls “in broad daylight to the extent that residents of those communities can no longer walk freely as everyone lives in fear.”

Some of the most affected streets, he added, are Adetola, Onigemo, Olodan, Olojowon, among others.

A community leader in the area, Mr Azeez Okeola, corroborated the statement, lamenting that their effort to tackle the menace was often thwarted by some residents who failed to pay security dues.