The Osun State Police Command has arrested six suspected cult members alleged to have been terrorising Osogbo and neighbouring communities.
The command’s spokesperson, DSP Abiodun Ojelabi, confirmed the arrests in a statement on Friday, noting that the operation formed part of measures put in place by the Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Gotan, to clamp down on cult-related activities and other criminal vices in the state.
According to Ojelabi, on August 21, at about 6:30 p.m., during a student union week in one of the state’s higher institutions, operatives of the anti-cultism unit arrested two notorious cultists, identified by their nicknames ‘Orife’ and ‘Aga’, both aged 29. The duo, he added, confessed to being members of Aiye and Buccaneer confraternities respectively.
Similarly, on August 19, following credible intelligence, police operatives stormed Okuku town, where four more suspected cultists linked to the Aiye confraternity were apprehended.
“In another operation, the command’s detectives raided the hideouts of armed hoodlums suspected to be members of the Eiye confraternity, led by one Gafari, who have been terrorising residents of Gbeja and Oke-Baale in Osogbo. The suspects, however, fled on sighting the police,” Ojelabi stated.
Recovered from the hideouts were a cut-to-size single barrel gun, a cut-to-size double barrel gun, five cutlasses, an axe, and three live cartridges. He noted that efforts were ongoing to arrest the fleeing suspects.
The police spokesperson said all those arrested would be charged to court after investigations are concluded. He further quoted CP Gotan as urging students across the state to shun cultism and focus on their education, stressing that the law would not spare anyone found culpable.
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