No fewer than seven members of two rival cults – Eiye and Aiye -have been arrested by operatives of Ogun State Police Command.
The arrests were made in the efforts of the police to rid Ogun State of cultism on Sunday.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the Police Command in Ogun, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement he made available to FrontPage, on Monday, the arrests resulted from a clampdown on members of the cult groups who embarked on supremacy battle in Ifo area of the state.
One of the cult members identified as Ofada was reported to have died as a result of the supremacy battle.
Oyeyemi’s statement reads in part:
“Distress call was subsequently made to the police in Ifo division headquarters and the DPO, CSP Adekunle Adeniyi, quickly led his men to the scene where they met two others with gun-shot injuries.
“The DPO and his men subsequently moved and traced the rampaging cult members to Iyana Coker area where three amongst them namely: Soji Olamilekan ‘m’ 29yrs, Shobande Olalekan ‘m’ 26yrs and Solomon Fadebi ‘m’ 33yrs were arrested.
“On interrogation, they informed the police that their other members have run to Osuke area of Onipanu Ota where they were planning to launch another round of attack.
“Based on the information, the DPO Onipanu division was contacted and he quickly moved to Osuke area where he met a group of cult members holding a meeting in a bush. On sighting the policemen, the hoodlums took to their heels but they were hotly chased and with the assistance of the youths in the area, four amongst the cult members namely: Balogun Oluwaseun ‘m’ 22yrs, Joseph Onwe ‘m’ 24yrs, Peter Rapheal ‘m’ 22yrs and Yusuf Emmanuel ‘m’ 26yrs were apprehended.
“While investigation was going on, information got to the police that one of the cult members was seen receiving treatment for gun-shot injury in Arobiye Village, Ota, the DPO Onipanu swiftly moved in there and got the suspect, one 22yrs old Toheeb Olorunkemi ‘m’ who confessed to participating in the Ifo crisis where he received gun-shot injury arrested.
“Recovered from the arrested suspects are: one locally made pistol, six live cartridges, four different types of handset, one black beret and a small bag.
“The corpse of the slain cultist has been recovered to the general hospital mortuary, while the injured ones have been taken to the same general hospital for medical care.
“Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Edward A. Ajogun, has ordered the transfer of the suspects to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for discreet investigation. He also directs a serious manhunt for the remaining members of the groups in order to put their notorious activities to a permanent end.”
