Teenage ‘cultist’ arrested for robbery in Lagos

Operatives of the Lagos State Rapid Response
Squad (RRS) today arrested 13-year-old Opeyemi
Johnson who is believed to be a suspected
member of the notorious Awawa cult group for
robbery. Opeyemi, a Junior Secondary School
(JSS) student, was arrested around Fagba in
Agege this morning after he, alongside 20 others
attacked some road users and dispossessed
them of their belongings. Other gang members
fled as RRS men on patrol tried to catch them.
Luck however ran out on Opeyemi who was
caught and later led the police to arrest another
suspect, Mohammed Korede, 19.
When interrogated, Opeyemi said their leader, a
certain ‘Ijaomode’ ordered them to rob anyone
they saw on the road from the carnival.
“I followed my cult members to carnival
at Power Line, Agbado Crossing. On our
way home, our Capol, nicknamed
‘Ijaomode’ instructed us to start robbing
anybody we meet on our way. We robbed
not less than 10 people before we got to
Fagba Junction. At this point, we saw a
young girl, (Naisha Akiomon) and
immediately surrounded and collected all
her belongings including phones and
jewelry. She later went to bring RRS men
who chased us and arrested me while my
colleagues managed to escape. I was
initiated into the group about a year ago.
It was one brother whom I only know as
Ola that introduced and forced me to join
the group.
It was on a Sunday evening at Abattoir,
Agege. Ola took me to one dark room and
ordered me to kneel down. In that room, I
met six other members already waiting
for my arrival. The cult leader, ‘Ijaomode’
blindfolded me with black clothe and all
the six members descended on me. They
gave me a thorough beating. After a
while, they stopped. They gave me
alligator pepper to chew and also an
alcoholic drink to gulp it down. One of
them stood up and he drew tattoo on my
forehead and below my eyes as sign of
being a bonafide member of the group.
“Since that time, I have been going out
with them for operations. I stopped going
back home. I used to sleep in a shanty
plank room at Abattoir. Initially, I did not
know it would turn out to be this.
Immediately I saw their way of life, I
wanted to quit but they threatened to kill
me if I dared,”he said.
When contacted, the state command’s
spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, ?confirmed the
arrest.