A fourth-year student of Abia State University Uturu held by police for alleged cult activities has said he joined the Black Axe confraternity because of his future political ambitions.
Princewill Okechukwu, an indigene of Isiukwuato Local Government Area of Abia State, also told the police he was not apprehended for any cult activity, though he reportedly admitted being the leader of the group.
Okechukwu was among five suspects that were paraded for suspected cult activities and armed robbery by the Commissioner of Police in the state Mr. Anthony Ogbizi at the Police Officers Mess in Umuahia, the state capital.
The 22-year-old final year student of Political Science reportedly confessed being the leader of the Black Axe confraternity in the institution, but also claimed that his enemies who were interested in his position betrayed him by reporting him to the police.
He said, “I wasn’t caught in any cult activity, rather I was arrested because I’m the head of the Black Axe fraternity.
“I joined the cult because I have an ambition to join politics after studies; I was told that there were great men that graduated from our school who are in government and they can help one to succeed in politics if one is a strong man”.
Okechukwu who said he has been a member of the cult for one year, regretted that he has not benefited anything from it, adding that he will not go back to cultism if he regains his freedom.
“I have not benefited anything from the cult since I joined. The position I occupy was just handed over to me not long ago, and it was the people that wanted my position that betrayed me,” he said.
A female suspect arrested among the cultists identified only as Chika also denied being a member of the Vikings confraternity. She said she was waiting for someone before she was arrested.
A police source said Chika was arrested close to the scene where the Vikings were initiating new members and that she was playing the role of an informant for the cultists. The source added that some substance suspected to be Indian hemp which she was allegedly holding for her boyfriend, a member of the Vikings now at large, was found on her.
One of the suspects, who claimed to be a Lagos-based trader, said he visited his girlfriend on campus the day police operatives raided his friend’s hostel in search of the cultists.
He said, “I’m based in Lagos where I deal in unisex clothes. My mother called and informed me that she was sick; when I came to see her, I decided to travel to my maternal home in Uturu to seek assistance from my uncles there in order to treat my mother. When I got to the village I decided to visit my girlfriend that I met on Facebook. I never had in mind that a secret cult initiation was going on in her lodge that was how I was arrested when the police arrived.
Another suspect identified as Osigwe Tochukwu who was arrested for allegedly robbing other students in his hostel at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike denied the act.
He said he had denounced cultism, adding that he was a victim of circumstance as he was arrested because a gun was found in the room where he was staying with his friends.
“I was arrested because I was accused of armed robbery. I was a cultist in the past but I had denounced my membership, but I was set up by someone who said he wants to denounce cultism. The gun was found in one of the three different rooms where I sleep. It belongs to one boy that came to spend some time with us.
“I thought he was a student but after Police investigation, I found out that he was not a student. The gun belongs to him, he kept it in one of the rooms where I used to sleep, when security came to the room, they found the gun in the room that was how I was arrested, but I didn’t sleep in that room that night. The boy himself ran away from the back.
The CP said Okechukwu and other suspects in the police and those at large would be charged to court after police investigation.