According to a report by Punch Newspaper on Friday, October 25, 2025, Billy Oyiza, a forty-one-year-old Lagos State University undergraduate, has said he was driven by hunger for power and fear when he staged a confrontation that resulted in a neighbour’s death.
He is now expressing regret for the chain of events that led to his imprisonment and ultimately his father’s death. Oyiza was recently released from the Kirikiri custodial centre in Lagos.
The incident traces back to 2018, when violent clashes occurred between rival cult groups at Yaba College of Technology.
Members of the groups came to seek support from students at Lagos State University, and university-based affiliates were deployed to the site, tensions escalated after a series of killings on both sides.
Oyiza reported that he discovered a neighbour on campus was aligned with a rival group, and that the balance of casualties had shifted against his side.
He said earlier losses fuelled a desire to retaliate and to change his standing within his own group.
The promotion he sought, referred to internally as becoming XY, would have placed him in charge of the region.
According to his account, he arranged a confrontation with the neighbour because he believed taking that action would restore balance and advance his position.
He described carrying out the attack with a firearm and targeting a fatal area of the body, a method he said was taught in training, the neighbour was killed during the encounter.
Following the death, Oyiza was arrested, charged with murder and detained at the Kirikiri custodial centre.
He has served time and has now been released, he conveyed remorse over his role in the killing and the wider consequences it produced.
The episode has interrupted his studies and placed long-term legal and personal burdens on him and his family.
Oyiza acknowledges the pain caused and says he regrets the decisions that led to imprisonment.
He remains out of custody and has spoken about his regret and the events that preceded his conviction, leaving the legal and social aftermath to play out.
He said: “In an attempt to avenge our loss and earn a promotion to XY (leader), which would put me in charge of our region, since the current XY wasn’t active, I decided to take him out.
“Driven by hunger for power and fear, I created a confrontation and killed him. He didn’t see it coming because he didn’t know I was one of them. If he had known, he would have come for me first. But I took him by surprise. I shot him in the left side of the chest, aiming for a fatal spot. We had been trained to know exactly where to aim to kill instantly. View, More,
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