Gunmen have killed an Islamic cleric, Alfa Tunde Aribidesi, and abducted two of his children in Ilorin, Kwara State.

The incident went viral on Facebook and many social media platforms after a friend of the deceased, Alfa Lawal Taoheed, posted it, calling for prayers and justice.

Taoheed's post reads in part: “The abductors have contacted the family, demanding N10m to release the two children.”

The spokesman of the police command, Okasanmi Ajayi, said the matter had not been reported.

Meanwhile, when City & Crime visited the residence of the deceased at Alalubarika community in Ilorin West LGA, a neighbour of the late cleric, Mrs Nohimat, told our reporter that the gunmen took away the phone of the deceased which they used to contact the family for a N10m ransom.

She explained that, “They came in the midnight while rain was falling and gained entrance into the house through the window after breaking it. They hacked him to death with a knife in the presence of his two senior sons and also abducted them. They asked for the wife but she had escaped through a back door and ran to hide in the house of a neighbour.”

A relative of the deceased, Dr Rilwanullahi Apaokagi, also confirmed the incident to City & Crime and urged the government to improve the security situation in the state.