Lagos, Nigeria - An Islamic cleric, Mallam Abubakar Gbagba was shot dead by armed robbers on Tuesday at Aleke village in Imota area of Ikorodu, Lagos.
The armed robbers, who left the village on a motorcycle after the operation, were apprehended at a nearby village called Isiwu by a vigilante group, and were handed over to police at the Imota Division.
The first wife of the deceased, Hajia Kuburat, who was with the deceased during the attack, identified a member of the gang at the Imota police station. The suspect, popularly called 'Bebo' was fingered by the woman as the person, who shot her husband.
Narrating her ordeal, Kuburat said the robbers shot her husband in the chest when he told them he had no money.
"The three armed robbers broke into our house around 2:10 am. They took all the money in my husband's pocket and shot him. When they were going, I pursued them to where they climbed the okada and I started shouting for help," she said.
The vigilance group in their statements at Imota police station said, "One of us, who saw them returning with a bike to our village trailed them to their hideout and alerted us. We, along with other residents, surrounded their house and threatened to burn down the house if they did not come out."
The Divisional Police Officer of Imota Police Station, Mr. David Etim said the police had been on the gang's trail for some time and were happy that they had been apprehended, adding that other victims of the gang's recent attacks had started coming to the station to identify them.
It was also gathered that the gang recently invaded a church, where they made away with N500,000 and raped some female members of the church.
Meanwhile, the remains of the slain scholar has been buried according to Islamic rites.