How do we explain a 15 year old pupil belonging to a dreaded cult group, Aiye Confraternity in a country still searching for credible youths to take over from aging leaders?
But the Lagos State police are up to the task as they have arrested Idris, a Junior Secondary School pupil at Orile on Thursday along with 56 others at their initiation ground at Elemoro in Aja area of Lagos.
The suspects were paraded by the police at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters in Ikeja on Monday.
The cult had gone inside a bush some distance away from Eleko Beach, Ajah, to perform initiation rites for new members, including Idris, who had tattoos on his chest and hand.
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They were about to complete the rites when the operatives swooped on them around 4am.
Two locally-made cut-to-size guns, three live cartridges and 22 expended cartridges were reportedly recovered from them.
Idris, a resident of Arowoyabuna Street, Orile, told our correspondent that an unnamed neighbour had approached him on Wednesday and taken him to a bar to drink.
He said, “A man in my community bought a drink for me. After we finished drinking, he asked me to follow him to Eleko Beach for a party. When we got there, they covered my face and took me inside a bush. They used an object to pierce my thumb and collected some blood.
“As we were about to leave around 4am on Thursday, I heard gunshots and the police arrested us. I have not been told the name of the cult.â€
He said the inscription, ‘Baba Bose,’ tattooed on his chest, was an expression of love for his girlfriend, identified as Bose.
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Another suspect, 23-year-old Eze Michael, explained that his friend, one Kelechukwu, lured him into the bush on the pretext that they were going for an event.
The Ebonyi State indigene said, “Kelechukwu invited me to an event at Eleko Beach. When we got there, he said we would have to wait till late evening. When it was 10pm, he took me inside a bush. I met so many people there. They beat us. They told us to lie down and raise our hands.
“They threatened to shoot us if we did not cooperate. Immediately they cut my thumb, I heard gunshots from the police and everybody started running helter-skelter.
“Some OPC members beat us up. Kelechukwu did not explain anything to me before we got to the bush. But I learnt the group is Aiye Confraternity.â€
Adedayo Obabiyi, 25, from Ogun State, said he and his siblings had attended a birthday party at the beach and were returning home when some hoodlums attacked them.
“They collected our phones and ATM cards and blindfolded us. They took us to an unknown place. When we got there, I heard a lot of voices. They pierced our thumbs,†he added.
The state Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, lamented increasing involvement of youths in cultism.
He, however, said the command had initiated a clampdown on cult members, adding that those arrested would be prosecuted.
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The CP said, “Based on credible intelligence that members of the dreaded Aiye Confraternity were performing their initiation rites at a shrine in a thick forest in Abule Egbanu, in the Elemoro, Aja area of Lagos, the Divisional Police Officer, SP Mohammed Limawa, mobilised his men. The DPO received support from the undercover operatives of the Area J, Elemoro, and the men of the Anti-Cultism Unit of the command. Together, they stormed the area and arrested 57 members of the notorious Aiye Confraternity.
“Some of them were not in their right senses at the time of the arrest due to drug overdose. Items recovered from the suspects include two Suzuki mini buses with number plates, LND 893 XV and EPE 189 XV, respectively, one Volkswagen bus, one Mitsubishi space wagon marked, SMK 455 AL, and two Toyota Camry cars with number plates, BD 760 DH and LSD 506 EC.â€
www.sojworld.com © February 27, 2018
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