Standing
among forty other suspects arrested over various crimes ranging from
robbery, rape, impersonation and cultism, at the Lagos State Police
Command headquarters, Ikeja , Wednesday, was an under-aged boy whose
appearance struck this reporter. Judging from his fragile frame to his
malnourished looks, coupled with an expression of fear on his light
skinned face, nothing would have passed him for any of the offences
listed against him. But during an interaction with Crime Guard,
16-year-old Babajide Akiola, as he later identified him, confirmed that
facial looks could be deceptive, following his admittance to belonging
to a dreaded cult group that has been terrorising Satellite Town, in
Amuwo Odofin local government area of Lagos. He further opened a can of
worms on activities of members of various cult groups in the area.
Most
startling was the revelation that children as young as ten years old
are initiated into the various cult groups in Satellite Town. By the
way, Sattelitte Town was 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 . Along the line,
illegal structures were built in the area, which unfortunately have
turned the area which was once known to be an estate into a slum, with
the prevalent activities of cultists holding sway. In this interaction
with Akiola, a Secondary School Certificate holder, he revealed that ,
primary school pupils and secondary school students , including artisans
in the area were forced into cultism. Attempt by anyone approached to
put up resistance according to him, meant the out right relocation of
the child’s parent from the area.
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 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. How I was forced into Eiye
confraternity Giving an instance with his case, 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 eduction. Initiation 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’. 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”.
Graduated
to robbery 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 N1500 and N3000. I have never
handled a gun because I am only a ‘Tender’. Killings enhance promotion
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 . “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”.Asked what the name of
the 10 year-old boy was, he said he never dared to ask him.
Continuing,
he said: “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 cassava flakes otherwise known as 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. 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”. He revealed that areas prone to cult activities included
Tambolo village, Ibasa, across the river, Bale, Ijegun, Egba, waterside,
Fire Service around barracks,among other places.
Arrested
Akiola further stated 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. Luck however ran against them on December 29,
2015 , following the arrest of four suspected members, 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 let off the
hook, I will return to my grand-mother in the village and join my
siblings in farming.
Crime
Guard gathered that some leaders of the cult groups were killed by
policemen during shoot-out while operating. The suspects, according to
the Commissioner of Police , Mr Fatai Owoseni would be charged to court.
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