A 16-year-old boy, Babajide Akiola, who was recently paraded at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters, Ikeja, among forty other suspects arrested over various crimes ranging from robbery, rape, impersonation and cultism, has revealed how he was initiated into robbery and cultism.
The under-aged boy, during an interaction with newsmen, said he belonged to a dreaded cult group that has been terrorising Satellite Town in Amuwo Odofin local government area of Lagos.
Akiola revealed that children as young as ten years old were initiated into the various cult groups in Satellite Town, (a town set up by the Lagos State government in early 1960 to help low income earners own their own houses, with some of the areas allocated to oil workers and private buyers).
The 16-year-old, a Secondary School Certificate holder, revealed that primary school pupils and secondary school students including artisans in the area were forced into cultism.
He further disclosed that children between 10 and 13 years who were initiated into major confraternity groups such as Arrow Baga popularly known as Arrow, were usually sent as spies on their rivals.
The children as gathered were also sent to survey places like the massive Navy barracks before their ‘masters’ would strike.
Speaking further, he revealed that he was approached right from the age of 10 to join the Eiye confraternity group.
According to him “ When the pressure was too much, I had no choice than to give in . My father was an okada rider (motorcyclist). He was never at home. There was no one I could approach when the pressure to join Eiye was much on me . Even if I had approached my father, he would not have done anything because everyone is afraid of the cult guys. He would be forced to pack out of the area and he didn’t have the financial strength to do so.
“In one of the occasions, one of them, Samuel seized my phone and my shoe. I went home barefooted. As if that was not enough, I was beaten to a pulp by members of the cult group, for committing no offence. I eventually joined Eiye confraternity in 2013, shortly after I finished my secondary school education.
“After my secondary school education, my father said I should go and work as an apprentice under a vulcanizer. On the day of the initiation, I was taken to a lonely area around waterside where I was blindfolded. Thereafter, they beat me and poured alcohol in my eyes.
“My position in the group is called ‘Tender'”, Akiola confessed, adding that, “This is the least position. My job is to spy on rival group members, particularly during fight and give their location to our members before they would strike. At first, no one knew I was a cultist because I was not moving with the known members. But later, my boss got to know and dismissed me.”
On how he ventured into robbery, Akiola said, “Along the line, I lost my father. By the way, my mother was separated from my late dad. She abandoned me and my two siblings with my father.
“When my father died, I travelled to the village in Ondo state to see my mother but she never welcomed me as a mother would welcome a child she had not seen for long. Rather, she called me names and sent me away, saying it was impossible for me to stay with her because she had remarried
“Thereafter, I went to my grandmother who told me to join my two other siblings with her to farm. But I refused because of the hardship there. She gave me N3000 to rent an apartment in Lagos . When I returned to Lagos, I went to stay with a friend who is also member of same cult.
“Most robbery cases in Satellite Town and its environs were carried out by cultists. I only participated in the morning raids where those leaving for their respective business places are attacked and dispossessed of their cash, phones and other valuables. At the end of each operation, I usually got between N1, 500 and N3, 000. I have never handled a gun because I was only a ‘Tender’,” the 16-year-old added.
Akiola further disclosed that series of fight in the area were caused by rival cultists. He gave names of some of two major volatile cult groups in the area as Eiye and Arrow.
He said, “We usually had problems with the Arrow boys, over supremacy . So many persons have died during such clashes in both camps. Our hit men are refereed to as flyers and Adaba.
“To graduate from the position of ‘Tender’ to ‘Flyer’ or ‘Adaba’, it requires human blood. Anyone that can kill three persons at a go during fight with rival cult groups automatically becomes a ‘flyer ‘ or an ‘Adaba’. But I don’t have the mind to kill.
“The day I was tempted to ask what else can be done to graduate to the next level was when I saw a 10 year-old boy who was already an ‘Adaba’. He came to where I was standing with other members and cleared me off from the ground simply because I did not pay him homage.
“He ordered me to lie flat and used my back as a leg rest. That was to show me that he was senior to me in rank.
“I was told that the alternative way to rise to the next level was to undergo another round of initiation which involved payment of N15,000. Aside that, I was told that a herbalist would be invited; who would mix garri with rice and would ask me to sort out the rice like a bird. Thereafter, I would be taken to Ibasa, a river bank where the real initiation which include severe beating would be done. I was told that several persons did not pass that stage as they died in the process and their bodies thrown inside the river.
“So, I decided to remain in my position as a ‘Tender ‘ because I didn’t have N15,000 to pay and I was also not ready for another round of beating.
“Areas prone to cult activities are Tambolo village, Ibasa, across the river, Bale, Ijegun, Egba, waterside, Fire Service around barracks,among other places,” Ariola quipped.
When asked how he was arrested, he said that members of his confraternity group usually attended parties whether invited or not, adding that on their way back, they would accost unsuspecting persons who were going to their respective places of work. He said on December 29, 2015 four suspected members were nabbed while operating at Chemist bus-stop.
Akiola said “Bolaji was with ‘weere’ (gun ) on that day. He used it to scare our victims. But we did not know that policemen were around.
“I regret joining a confraternity group. In fact, I feel like dying because I am not prepared to go to jail. If I am freed, I will return to my grand-mother in the village and join my siblings in farming.
Reacting, the Commissioner of Police, CP, Mr Fatai Owoseni, said the suspects, would be charged to court.
Owoseni added that some leaders of the cult groups were killed by policemen during shootout.
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