The police in Ekiti State have arrested 18 suspected members of the Aiye Confraternity over their alleged involvement in the killing of two persons, Ajayi Sunday and Owolabi Moses.
The state Commissioner of Police, Moronkeji Adesina, said the 18 suspects, who were arrested at Ikole Ekiti during the group’s initiation ceremony, confessed to participating in the killing of the two victims.
Adesina, who was represented by the state Police Public Relations Officer, Sunday Abutu, spoke in Ado Ekiti on Saturday during the parade of the 18 suspected cult members and 17 others arrested for various crimes ranging from cattle rustling to kidnapping and armed robbery.
The police spokesman said, “On May 28, 2022, around 8am, a team of the Rapid Response Squad, acting on a tip-off, swooped on a criminal hideout in Ikole-Ekiti, where suspected cult members were holding their initiation.”
He identified the suspects as Alayerogun, Fatoye, Ogunsakin, Oluwadare, Bimbola, Afolabi, Adelola, Ogundola, Adeyemo, Johnson, Kolawole, Babalola, Fanimo, Awoyemi, Charles, Thomas, Obanla and Anjorin.
“Items recovered from the suspects are one cut-to-size single-barrelled gun, two cutlasses and 10 suspected stolen motorcycles, which they used in carrying out their nefarious activities,” he added.
He noted that the police also arrested two suspected cult members who allegedly attacked two students of the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, in their residential apartment in Iworoko Ekiti.
Abutu said the two suspects, Akinbo and Shodipe, confessed to being members of the Aiye confraternity, just as a camouflage cap with pirate secret cult insignias was recovered.
The police also paraded four suspected notorious armed robbers in connection with an attack on a Wema bank branch at Iyin Ekiti in 2020, the kidnap of an expatriate during the construction of the new Ado-Iyin Road, and the robbery attack on Maxwell Hospital, Ado Ekiti.
Abutu identified the suspects as Lasisi, Omotoyinbo, Ilesanmi and Omowumi, adding that the police would soon arrest other members of the gang.
He said the command also arrested “a syndicate of armed robbers who specialised in snatching motorcycles at gun point and selling to receivers in Ondo and Zamfara states.”