A young man identified simply as Azeez has been beaten to death by suspected cultists following a dispute over a missing phone at Oko-Oba in the Agege area of Lagos State.

A police source told PUNCH Metro on Sunday that the incident occurred on Monday, August 3.

According to the source, Azeez was involved in an argument with some of his colleagues over a missing phone after they attended a party.

The source said the argument later degenerated into an assault on Azeez by some of the suspected cultists, said to be his friends.

“We got a report that he passed away as a result of an assault on him by some suspected cultists said to be his friends. The argument was as a result of a missing phone,” the source said.

The source added that Azeez later succumbed to injuries sustained during the assault.

Meanwhile, an anti-cultism advocacy platform, Naija Confra, in a post on Saturday, gave further details of the incident, saying it began on Sunday night, August 2, during a birthday celebration.

According to the platform, a fight broke out at the event, during which one Abela allegedly took a phone and handed it to Azeez.

The platform said trouble started after the owner of the phone began searching for it.

It alleged that when the owner and his friends confronted Azeez after the phone was found in his possession, he told them that Abela had given him the phone to keep.

“Abela, who was sitting there, denied Azeez, even when people saw him. Azeez would never accuse Abela, an NBM leader who is also a boss to him, if it was not true,” the platform claimed.

Naija Confra further alleged that the owner of the phone and his friends, unable to confront Abela, attacked Azeez before leaving the party.

The platform added that Azeez later confronted Abela over his alleged denial of giving him the phone, leading to another argument and subsequent assault.

It alleged that Azeez was taken to another location by suspected members of the Neo-Black Movement, where the attack was carried out on him.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Adebisi, could not be reached for comments as calls made to her telephone lines were not responded to.

A text message sent to her had yet to be replied to as of the time this report was filed. (The PUNCH, but headline rejigged)

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