Operatives of the Anti-Robbery Squad attached to the Lagos State Police Command have arrested a Lagos prince, Wale Jimoh, and seven others during an alleged initiation rite of the Eiye Confraternity in the Jakande Roundabout, Small Kuramo, Lekki area of the State.
Jimoh is said to be the son of a traditional ruler in the area.
Others arrested with Jimoh during the allegd initiation include; Frank Mafiana (32), Robert Williams (34), Koko Etim (25), Ibrahim Ogunkoya (21), Stephen Anoh (27), Adekunle Mayegun (25), and Moris Gordian (27).
The suspected members of the confraternity had organised a party at a bar owned by their gang leader identified as Mafiana, and decided to initiate their newest member identified as Ogunkoya.
Men of the Anti-Rbbery Squad acting on a tip-off pounced on the suspected cultists while they were at the last stage of the initiation rite.
A police source while commenting on the arrest said the suspects were “caught in the act.”
He said, “When we got there, we met the new member in their midst. He was blindfolded and stark naked. We recovered a gun, cutlass and a bottle of gin which contained ground pepper from the scene.”
While confessing to the crime, Mafiana who is the leader of the confraternity said his sojourn in the world of cultism dates back to his university days in Enugu State.
Mafiana who hails from Delta State said, “A girl had hugged me in public. That night, some guys came to my hostel and beat me up. They warned me never to go near the girl again.
“I became angry and called my friend, who was a cultist. I told him I was ready to be one of them. That was how I joined and rose to be the number one.
“I have gone for several missions and beaten up many rival cult members, but I never killed. When I came to Lagos, I stopped being a member and these guys only came to meet me that day to assist them with the initiation.”
Etim an indigene of Akwa Ibom stated that the gang always had their meetings in his bar.
“We are all members and he is the chief. I joined them recently and never knew there was going to be an initiation that night,” he said.
Reacting to Ogunkoya’s initiation another member of the gang, Williams revealed that members of the gang were called to the bar by Jimoh, the prince.
Williams affirmed, “ Jimoh called Mafiana that Ogunkoya wanted to be a member. Our leader was initially reluctant, but when he saw Jimoh with a polythene bag containing a cutlass and a gun, he agreed.”
Jimoh who owned up to the crime said the gun and cutlass at the venue of the initiation were stolen from an Ogun shrine located in his community.
“Although my mum is the present queen in the palace, I am not the real son of the king. The king married my mum and because he liked me, he adopted me.
“Ogunkoya is my friend. He has been noticing how we operate, and he told me that he was interested in being a member.
“I invited him for the party. It was when he was feeling tipsy that we removed his clothes to initiate him,” Jimoh revealed.
However the new initiate, Ogunkoya denied been interested in the group, stressing that he was forced after they threatened him with a gun.
“I have never met them in my life until that day. I never knew they were cultists until they attacked and pushed me into a pit and started beating me around 9pm.
“They put a gun to my head and said I must join them or else they would kill me,” Ogunmola said.
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