The Police in Imo State yesterday arrested 25 suspected cultists and 10 ‘armed robbers’.
Parading the suspects, police spokesman Andrew Enwerem, said they acted on a tip-off by concerned residents who saw them gathering in the forest.
Enwerem said the suspected cultists were holding their national conference and initiating new members.
“These ‘cultists’ belong to the Black Axe Fraternity and they were arrested while holding their national conference in the forest,” Enwerem said.
•Nine ‘robbers’, two ‘cultists’, two ‘kidnappers’ killed
The Rivers State Police Command has said it killed 13 suspected criminals in gun battles last month.
Its spokesman Ahmed K. Mohammed, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, during the parade of over 200 suspects, including four women, at the Anti-Kidnapping Unit.
The suspects are being held for various crimes, including cultism, robbery and kidnapping.
The police said 162 suspects were arrested for alleged cultism and related activities; seven for alleged kidnap and 29 for alleged robbery.
They also said nine suspected robbers, two suspected kidnappers and two “cultists” were killed in a gun battle within the period.
The police said they foiled five kidnap attempts and rescued five kidnap victims.
A statement yesterday said 34 firearms, 174 ammunition/cartridges, 15 stolen vehicles, four tricycle/motorcycles and N296,760, including N10,000 suspected fake currencies and various shapes and sizes of charms were recovered from the hoodlums.
The suspects were arrested mainly from Rumuekini, East-West Road, both in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area and Chokocho, in Etche Local Government Area.
The police hailed the public for its cooperation, which it said led to the arrest of the suspects.
The command called for more assistance for the police.
It reiterated its commitment to ridding the state of hoodlums.
The command warned criminals to have a change of heart or face its wrath.
Police in Benin have arrested 14 Junior Secondary School (JSS) students over their alleged involvement in cult-related activities in Benin City.
The students whose age ranges between 12 and 15 were picked when a crack team of policemen stormed Oguola Secondary School, Saint –Saviour, Benin City, last Thursday.
Dependable sources hinted our reporter that the teenage suspected cultists are being screened at the state criminal Investigation Department, SCID, police headquarters, Benin City.
Principal of the school, Mr. Ehanire Reuben said that eight of the students were nabbed at flash spots in the school compound.
He stated that their arrest prompted the police team to conduct a search on some students in the classrooms.
Mr. Ehanire added that items believed to be emblems of notorious cult groups in Edo State were recovered from them.
He however, maintained that reports made against the students by some parents may have triggered the raid.
He also disclosed that prior to the onslaught; he was told that a student teacher in the school was attacked as his phone and wallet were taken by some students who equally attacked other persons in the area.
Mr. Ehanire appealed to the police command to release those found to be innocent.
The Spokesman for Edo police command, DSP Stephen Onwochei stated that the raid on the school followed a tip-off.
DSP Onwochei said that though those arrested were underage, the paraphernalia found on the students called for proper investigation.
He maintained that the police command would not leave any stone unturned in its renewed war against cultism and other crimes in Edo.
Suspected cultists, on Tuesday morning, killed two students of the Edo State College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi in Ovia Southwest Local Government Area.
The third victim was said to be a boy learning a vocation.
Two women, who were said to be the mothers of unidentified students that rival cultists were looking for, were also killed on Tuesday night in Benin, the state capital.
A 20-year-old man, suspected to be a cultist, was also killed in his parents’ home in what looked like a reprisal.
The women were killed at Murtala Muhammed Way and New Benin.
The woman at the Murtala Muhammed Way was killed for allegedly lying about the whereabouts of her son. The other was reportedly killed when the cultists could not find her son at home.
An eyewitness said the armed hoodlums stormed the Virginia Junction, near the Murtala Muhammed Way, at 8p.m., searching for their target, said to be a 20-year-old student.
The cultists reportedly first went to the store belonging to their target’s mother. But when they asked her about the whereabouts of her son, she told them that she had not seen him for over two weeks.
They were said to have gone to the boy’s home and found him. They killed him instantly.
Angered that the woman had lied to them, they went back to her shop and shot her dead.
The two students of the Edo State College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi, were said to have been shot dead on their way to lectures on Tuesday morning.
The examinations that were supposed to start at the institution were postponed after students barricaded the highway to protest the killings.
The Provost, Dr. Friday Obasogie, confirmed the killings.
He said the victims were on their way to school when they were ambushed and killed by the gunmen.
Obasogie said: “As I speak with you, I am with the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at Iguobazuwa. The two students lived in the community. They were going to school when the perpetrators ran out of the bush, attacked them and ran back to the bush.
“It was a cult clash. You know what it has been in Benin for over a week now. The police have brought the situation under control.
“The semester’s examinations have been postponed by one week to enable tension die down.”
Police spokesman Stephen Onwochei, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said investigation had begun into the killings.
Onwochei said the killers would not escape justice as the police had launched a manhunt for them.
In a similar incident, few weeks ago, suspected cultists shot dead the mother of their target when they did not find him at home.
An eyewitness said the woman was shot in the eye.
Over 20 persons have died in the last three weeks since the renewed cult war started in the Edo State capital.
The reprisal killings were said to have started immediately after the elections, when a member of a cult group was killed.
Onwochei told reporters that the police had arrested some suspects.
On the number of persons that have been killed since the violence started, Onwochei said: “I cannot give you the accurate figure, but we are compiling a list. Once we are done, we will parade them. We are still investigating.”
Bayelsa State House of Assembly’s Deputy Clerk Joephrey Nemina was killed as suspected members of rival cultists clashed in Yenagoa, the state capital.
It was learnt the rival cult gangs used various weapons in the clash, which occurred on Saturday night, between 7:30 and 8 pm.
Nemina was said to have been hit by a stray bullet in front of his wife’s shop on Agudama Road.
He was reportedly rushed to an undisclosed hospital, where he was confirmed dead.
A source, who spoke in confidence, described Nemina as a victim of circumstance, adding that he was full of life when he got to his wife’s supermarket on the fateful day.
The source added: “The cult members suddenly started shooting. The shooting lasted for some minutes and caused panic in the area. The man who died knew nothing about the clash. He was standing in front of his wife’s shop when a stray bullet hit him.”
But another source claimed that a group of gunmen ambushed Nemina when he was leaving his wife’s shop with a bag containing money.
Speaking in confidence, he said the gunmen shot him and fled without taking the bag, implying that Nemina could have been a victim of assassination.
Police spokesman Butswat Asinim, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), confirmed the report.
But he said the deceased was a victim of a stray bullet.
Asinim said: “He was hit by a stray bullet. He was standing near his house when the bullet hit him. We have arrested one person and begun investigation into the incident.”
Four suspected cultists have been arraigned for allegedly killing two persons at Mushin, Lagos State.
The incident happened at about 9.30pm Itire Road Junction, Mushin around 9.30 pm on February 14, 2015.
Jamiu Eniola, 34; Benjamin Wilson, 38; Wale Odukoya, 25, and Taiwo Adewumi, 27, are facing an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrate’s Court on a four count charge including conspiracy, felony and murder.
They are alleged to have shot dead Femi Egbekunle and Saliu Maja on the day of the incident.
Alleged to have aided them in the act were one Onbe and one Nurudeen, both of whom are on the run.
Jamiu, a fashion designer; Benjamin, a barber; Taiwo, a tailor and Wale, a jobless man had clashed with Egbekunle and Maja during which the suspects shot the victims.
The charge sheet reads: “That you Jamiu Eniola, Benjamin Wilson; Wale Odukoya; Taiwo Adewumi and others at large on February 14, 2015 at about 0930 hrs at Itire Road Junction, Mushin in the Lagos magisterial district did kill one Femi Egbekunle and Saliu Maja by shooting him with a gun on his chest and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
“That you Jamiu Eniola; Benjamin Wilson; Wale Odukoya; Taiwo Adewumi and others at large on the same date, time and place in the aforesaid magisterial district did belong to an unlawful society called Eiye Confraternity and thereby committed and offence punishable under Section 42 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
Their plea was not taken.
The police prosecutor, Elizabeth Ekuma, applied for the remand of the defendants in prison custody pending legal advice from the state Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
The offences according to the prosecutor are punishable under Sections 221 and 42 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
The presiding magistrate, Mrs M.O.Tanimola, ordered that the defendants be remanded in prison custody while the case was adjourned till May 18.
•Residents decry security agents’ ‘incompetence’
An Ughelli businessman, Michael Onajiyovwi (aka Onamike), has been killed by suspected cultists in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.
His killing has added to several other killings in the area by suspected cultists.
Onajiyovwi was said to have been shot dead at a popular drinking spot belonging to his wife on the Ughelli end of the East/West Road.
Residents of the community have blamed security agents for failing to protect them from hoodlums.
Onajiyovwi was an electrical parts dealer. He was shot in a drinking spot he opened for the wife on the Ughelli end of the East/West road.
Although details on his death were still sketchy last night, our reporter learnt that he was shot by three gunmen at a close range.
A member of the Ughelli vigilance team, who spoke in confidence, confirmed the incident.
He said the incident might be connected with recent cult killings.
Efforts to contact police spokesperson, Celestina Kalu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), were unsuccessful.
Calls to her mobile phone were not answered.
There was pandemonium at the weekend in Okpanam, Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State, following the alleged killing of a man for suspected cult-related activities.
The incident occurred at Obodogba Quarters after rival cult groups clashed over money-sharing.
Okpanam is a suburb of Asaba, the Delta State capital.
It was gathered that over 20 cultists used dangerous weapons, including battle axes, cutlasses, cudgels and knives, in the clash that led to the death of a cultist.
Police spokesperson Celestina Kalu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said the victim died on the way to the hospital.
She said one person had been arrested in connection with the incident.
The spokesperson said the command would apprehend other fleeing cultists from their hideouts.
Kalu urged the residents to remain calm and go about their lawful activities.
An eyewitness said the deceased, who hailed from Abakiliki, the Ebonyi State capital, had been stabbed in the neck when his “cult group” clashed with another group in the town.
It was learnt that trouble started when a member of the Baga cult, simply identified as Ozuronye, had his debts forgiven.
But a rival cult, Two-Two, ambushed Ozuronye and beat him up.
An eyewitness said: “Obviously, Ozuronye went to mobilise his members for revenge. The groups met at Obodogba Quarters and unleashed violence.
Some of them sustained severe injuries, including Ozuronye, who died on the way to hospital.”
A source said the body of the deceased had been deposited at a hospital’s mortuary.
Residents of the Toll Gate area of Mushin, Lagos State, moved about with measured steps and bated breath yesterday. Obviously, they were unsure of when next they would hear sporadic shootings by their enemies within – cultists of various nomenclatures that had for long locked horns in supremacy tussle.
The tranquility of the area was rudely terminated again last Tuesday when during the clash by the rival cults from Fadeyi and Mushin areas, a youth was shot dead on the neighbouring Railway Line.
The day before, a 32-year-old young man, who was simply identified as Tunde, was reportedly beheaded by some cultists who stormed the place in large numbers. They were said to have taken away the victim’s head.
A resident who spoke with this reporter early yesterday on Okanlawon Lane, said. “We no longer enjoy sound sleep here. Even during the day, everyone is in fear because these cultists have become terrorists here. We don’t know where to run to because the presence of policemen at the Toll Gate near us here means nothing to them.
“The killing of last Tuesday was the fourth in three days. The cultists came in large numbers. We were told that they were joined by others from Somolu, Bariga and Ebute Metta. They came in at night when everyone was in deep sleep and got the boy (Tunde). I hid myself and my only son under my bed.”
When asked about why they were at war, the resident said: “What we learnt was that they came on a reprisal over the arrest of a leader of one of their gangs called Toba following a violent class that rocked the area over three months ago. As things are, we can only appeal to Governor Babatunde Fashola to work with the police to secure this area because we are in deep trouble.”
A pepper seller on the rail line was asked why she was yet to display it by 10.45 am yesterday. Palpable fear was all over her as she replied: “My son, one has to look well here now since these bad boys won’t stop fighting. Did you not hear that they beheaded two young men last week? Since we are not sure of when next they will come with their trouble, we must be watchful. In fact, I’m contemplating staying at home for some time now because I cherish my life.”
A suspected worker at the Toll Gate who spoke with The Nation said human traffic across the rail line to and from Mushin had thinned down because of the notoriety of the area.
“You can observe that the whole place appears desolate. If you were familiar with this area, it used to be busy with various activities. Even beggars are afraid to do their “business” here now as they too don’t want to die,” she said.
Though she said policemen attached to nearby Alakara Police Station had joined hands with those at the Toll Gate to keep watch over the neighbourhood, she maintained that more must be done by the authorities to protect lives and property in the area because of the dangerous weapons being used by the hoodlums.
Sources from the state police command hinted yesterday that the incessant clashes in the area were being seriously investigated as efforts were being made to secure the area as well as other parts of the state.
The Imo State Police Command have continued their clampdown on cultists and other criminal elements across the state with the recent arrest of 23 suspected cultists, who were rounded up during a nocturnal ceremony of various cult groups to initiate new members in a forest beside the dreaded “Okatangwu” River in Emii autonomous community, Owerri North Council Area of the state.
The state in recent times has become the hotbed of cultist activities in the Southeast and South-South zone. This may not be unconnected to the number of Tertiary institutions within the state. For instance, Owerri, the state capital has about five higher institutions namely; the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Imo State University (IMSU), Federal Polytechnic Nekede and Imo State Polytechnic among others.
Few weeks before the raid, over 18 people were hacked to death in broad daylight during a cult war. The rampaging cultists, who were heavily armed according to eye witness account, trailed the victims to different parts of the city where they were gunned down and decapitated with battle axe.
The state Commissioner of Police, Abdulmajid Ali, thereafter declared a full scale war against cultism and all related criminal activities, with a clear order to shoot on sight against suspected cultists.
Barely one month after the declaration, had the Police recorded a major breakthrough in with the successful raid of an initiation ceremony where large numbers of suspected cultists were arrested and various items recovered from them.
The suspects aged between 19 to 32, were arrested after the Police stormed their hideout in the middle of the night following a tipoff.
Parading the suspects who also confessed to be responsible for series of violent crimes, including armed robbery and kidnapping across the state, the Commissioner of Police, said they were arrested while carrying out initiation into the “Aye” fraternity.
He said that the suspected cultists were arrested by the Operation of the Command’s Department of Criminal Investigation, who ambushed them in the middle of the initiation ceremony.
The Commissioner of Police stated further that, items recovered from the cultists include three masquerade heads, one musical drum, 2 iron gongs, 2 local belts, charms, packets of candle and other initiation materials, adding that most of the suspects are students of institutions of higher learning from different states of the federation.
He appealed to members of the public to always provide his men with useful information to fight criminals in the state, assuring that his Command would not relent in its efforts to rid the state of all criminal elements.
The names of the suspects were given as Eto Uche, 26, Chinedu Azu, 26, Felix Ikenna 30, Uchenna Dike, 26, Chimaobi Uzoanya, 25, Udoyibo Innocent, 24, Omesurum Innocent, 24 and Nwadigo Henry 24.
Others are Umunne Daniel, 26, Nwabuko Chigozie 22 and Igweoku Frank among others.