The Anti-Robbery Squad of the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba, Lagos, has arrested a Lagos prince, Wale Jimoh, and seven others.
The suspected cultists
The men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba, Lagos, has apprehended a Lagos prince, Wale Jimoh, and seven other accomplices namely Frank Mafiana (32), Robert Williams (34), Koko Etim (25), Ibrahim Ogunkoya (21), Stephen Anoh (27), Adekunle Mayegun (25), and Moris Gordian (27).
Acccording to the police, the suspects were nabbed during initiation rites of the Eiye Confraternity in the Jakande Roundabout, Small Kuramo, Lekki. Wale Jimoh during interrogation has revealed his father is a traditional ruler of a community in the area. Reports reveal that the suspected cultists organized a party at a bar belonging to their ring leader, Mafiana and decided to use the opportunity to initiate Ogunkoya.
It was gathered that it was at the last stage of the initiation that security operatives, acting on a tip-off, struck. A police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, 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 Unclad. We recovered a gun, cutlass and a bottle of gin which contained ground pepper from the scene.”
The leader of the cult group, Mafiana, said he became a cultist while in a university in Enugu State.
The Delta State indigene 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.”
The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, Patricia Amadin, when contacted, said she would get back to Punch correspondent. But she had yet to do so as of press time.