Toyin Adeniji, a 47-year-old aide to a former minister, Dapo Sarumi, has been shot dead in Lagos. 

Mr Adeniji was shot by suspected cultists in the Agege area of the state on Monday, Nigerian Tribune reports. 

According to witnesses, the deceased and some of his friends were discussing in front of the former minister’s residence at Oyewole Road, Agege, when the gunmen invaded the area and shot him at close range.

A witness quoted by the media outlet said he suspected that some political thugs in the community took part in the killing.

“The incident actually started in the evening, when one of the political thugs in the area, who is a notorious cultist and some of his boys invaded Oyewole Road and started shooting,” he said.

“Brother Toyin (the deceased) went to the Computer Village to buy a phone in the morning and later went to the mechanic workshop to repair his vehicle. He had just returned from the mechanic workshop, when the gunmen came again.

“When they came, they started shooting and went down the road. When they were coming back, they stopped at where Brother Toyin and others were sitting.

“Four of the people, who were with brother Toyin, escaped. The hoodlums caught the other four and started harassing them. Three others escaped, leaving only brother Toyin.”

Another witness said that the deceased was hit repeatedly across his face before he was shot.

“I heard one of the gunmen asking others not to waste the bullet, saying that they still have other things to do with the bullet,” she said.

Benjamin Hundeyin, the Lagos state police spokesperson, said seven suspects had been arrested in connection to Mr Adeniji’s death.

He said the investigation of the murder case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID).

Dapo Sarumi was a former minister of information who contested the Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship primary elections in 1991.