The Bayelsa Police Command has confirmed the death of two players of Nigerian Premiership side, Ocean Boys FC of Yenagoa by unidentified gunmen in the Kpansia suburb of Yenagoa.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that the two men were shot dead in their sleep.
According to the state's Police spokesperson, Ibokette Iniobong, the incident occurred at about 2 am on Monday while the players slept in their one-room apartment behind the Epie Primary School in Kpansia.
Mr. Iniobong told NAN in Yenagoa on Tuesday that a complainant (names withheld) reported to the Ekeki Police Station that the two footballers, Eniye Dennis and Uboto Ochokoma, had been shot dead in their home while they were sleeping.
"The complainant, who is a neighbour, reported that at about 2 am on Monday, he was jolted from sleep by gunshots in the neighbourhood, but could not go out of his room for fear," Mr. Iniobong said.
The Police spokesperson said that the complainant told the police that he, however, went outside his room at about 6.20 am, and discovered the bodies of the two footballers with gunshot wounds.
He said that the police came to the scene of the incident to find both footballers lying dead in a pool of blood.
He said the bodies had been deposited at the mortuary of the Federal Medical Centre in Yenagoa, and that the killing was being investigated.
Ocean Boys FC has been plagued by cult attacks involving its members after 12 members of its supporters' club were killed in an attack by suspected cultists along the Patani/Ughelli axis of the East-West road on their way to Ughelli in Delta State to watch a league match.
The shooting was later attributed to rivalry between Greenlanders and Icelanders cult groups.