Police in Oyo State on Wednesday paraded nine suspected cultists who reportedly confessed to have been involved in the murder on August 27 of a former student of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Olatunji Hammed (aka Maku) at the Apete area of Ibadan.
Oyo Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abiodun Odude, while parading the suspects at the state Police Command Headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan, said the cultists were arrested in Ibadan by his men at the Sango and Apete Police Divisions following a discreet investigation carried out by the Anti-Robbery Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID).
He said: “Those arrested have confessed to their membership of the Aye Confraternity and they are agents of Lucifer, masquerading as cultists, causing unrest in The Polytechnic, Ibadan and its neighbouring communities.
“Their nefarious activities took another dimension when they mowed down a former student of the polytechnic in cold blood at Apete area. They were arrested by our men of Anti-Robbery Section of the SCIID.
“The suspects were arrested with various arms and ammunition with other exhibits. They will soon be charged to court for proper prosecution.
Odude gave the names of the suspects as Fatai Akinola (33), John Amgbare (30 who is 2nd in Command in the cult group), Oladapo Tope (28, from whom a gun and cartridges were recovered), Sodiq Adekola (25) and Oludayo Olumide (33).
Others are Aremu Paul (24), Adebiyi Oluwajuwonlo (30), Martins Adegbegi (26) and Ogunfuwa Oriyomi (20).
Exhibits recovered from the cultists are one locally-made cut-to-size single-barrelled gun, two axes, cutlasses, charms, calabashes and other fetish items.
Speaking with our correspondent, one of the suspected cultists, Akinola, confessed to be the Number One member of the Aye Confraternity in The Polytechnic Ibadan.
He said: “I am a student of The Polytechnic Ibadan. I am the number one of the Aye Confraternity in Ibadan, but I am not the one who killed Maku, and I don’t know who killed him.
“Though I learnt that the deceased had a quarrel with one of us, (Sunday, popularly called Apata, who is now at large), and I am aware that our group had a clash with other groups. But I still can’t really say if the deceased died in the process because we had settled the matter. But later I got to know that the matter had gone beyond our own settlement. I am not the killer of Maku. I am just a suspect
