The family of Julius Okpor, a 300-level student of the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rumuolumeni in Rivers State, who was killed last Saturday, has called for a thorough investigation into his death and justice to be served.
In a related development, a 26-year-old artisan, identified simply as Timehin, has been killed during cult initiation rites in the Awoyaya area of Eti-Osa Local Government Area, Lagos State.
The family also said, contrary to some reports making the rounds, their late son, Julius Okpor, was not a cultist.
Rivers State Police Command, in a statement through its spokesperson, Grace Iringe-Koko, had said the student, Julius, who hails from Okposi community in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of the state, was shot dead during a suspected clash between rival cult groups in Rumuolumeni, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, where the institution is located.
However, the elder brother of the deceased, Ambrose Okpor, while speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt on Tuesday evening, dismissed reports linking his brother to cultism, insisting that he was never a cultist.
Okpor said he heard about the incident from a friend of the deceased who informed him that Julius had been critically injured after being shot, adding that he raced to the scene and when he arrived, he met some policemen and vigilantes, but that Julius was already dead.
He also clarified that the remains of his late brother were deposited at the Military Hospital in Port Harcourt and not taken to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital as related by the police.
“On July 19, 2025, I received a distress call at about 9 pm from my brother’s friend, who is also his neighbour at Celelia Street, Rumuolumeni, that my brother had been shot and was lying critically on the street.
“On getting to the scene, I saw some policemen and OSPAC (codename for a vigilante group). We discovered he died on the spot and we immediately took his remains to the Military Hospital along Aba Road in Port Harcourt.
“Now the news has it that my brother was taken to the UPTH (University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital), which is not correct.
“My brother was never a cultist. And I want to call on the Nigeria Police to ensure that they get my brother’s killers’ and ensure that justice is served.”
He further said the family will not rest until those responsible for the murder of Julius Okpor face justice.
“We will not let this slide because we are his family members. He is my younger brother, and we will not stop until justice is served. My brother was gruesomely murdered by unknown gunmen.
“He was a 300-level student of Computer Science at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, He was never a cultist and he does not have any bad record because he lived a free life, ” a distraught Ambrose stated.
The deceased elder sibling further said of his late brother, “His neighbours on Cevelia Street, where he lived, said he was their caretaker and they spoke good of him.”
In the case of the 26-year-old artisan, PUNCH Metro learnt on Tuesday that the incident occurred on July 18, when suspected members of a rival cult group ambushed the initiation ground.
It was gathered that Timehin had been taken into a nearby bush late in the evening to be initiated as a recruit into the cult group.
However, shortly after the rites began, some assailants believed to be members of a rival cult stormed the scene and began shooting.
A relative of the deceased, who disclosed this to our correspondent on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the incident, said this caused the initiators of the rites to scamper for safety, while Timehin could not.
The family source told PUNCH Metro that Timehin was attacked and killed in the process.
He said, “Timehin left home in the evening and said he wanted to visit a friend.
“Nobody could stop him from going since he was an adult. It was the following day that our attention was called to a lifeless body found in a bush near the UBA bus stop at Awoyaya. When we got there, we were shocked to discover that he was the one. So, we had to quickly take him to the hospital to see if we could resuscitate him, but he was confirmed dead on arrival.”
Another source in the community who was aware of the incident said Timehin was shot in the neck and on the hand.
“We saw bullet wounds on his neck and his hand. We also realised, some days after his death, that he was taken to the location for cult initiation. We have not been able to confirm this from the police, though,” the source said.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, could not be reached for confirmation as calls made to his telephone by our correspondent were not responded to. A text message sent to him had yet to be replied to as of the time of filing this report.
PUNCH Metro reported on July 16 that rampaging cultists hacked three residents to death in the Ebute Meta area of the state.
The victims were identified simply as Agbara, Butcher and a plumber whose identity had yet to be ascertained.
It was gathered that Agbara was attacked and killed in the Lagos Street area of the community days earlier.
A resident who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity said the victim’s body was found lying lifeless on the street in the evening with machete cuts.
Also in May, a cult clash between rival cult groups in the Owode Ajegunle area of the state left one person dead.
It was gathered that one of the rival cult groups was on a mission to avenge the death of one of them when they ran into another group.
A source in the community told our correspondent that this resulted in a confrontation leading to the death of the deceased, identified simply as Sparkle.
“These tragic incidents are a stark reminder of the deadly grip of cultism. The loss of innocent lives, like the university student, and the death of the young artisan during initiation, demand urgent action to root out this menace from our communities and campuses.”