Joy Anyim
It was melodramatic when operatives of the Anti-Cultism Unit, Lagos State Police Command, stormed the Yaba College of technology recently, arresting an Ordinary National Diploma (OND) II Business Administration student inside an exam hall for possession of firearms.
The suspect, Martins Bolade, was said to be a member of the dreaded and notorious Alora Cult group, occupying the number six position in the cult leadership hierarchy.
Bolade, who claimed to have joined the group two years ago, said he was deceived into attending a freshers’ party, when he gained admission into the institution, only to later discover that the party was organised by the Alora Cult group to initiate new members.
The suspect said he regretted his membership of the group and also disclosed that the firearm was given to him by the number three man in the gang, simply identified as Badmus, who is said to be on the run.
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Making a confessional statement, the 20-year-old Bolade said: “I was arrested on the October 10. I became a member of Alora cult gang after I was forcefully initiated. I have been a member since I gained admission into Yabatech. It was actually at a freshers’ party that I was initiated. The freshers’ party was held outside the school community. The initiation was done outside the venue of the party in the middle of the night.
“I can’t say the exact location, as I was blindfolded and transported to the initiation ground. I kept associating with members of the cult because it is my school, there is no way I could have disassociated myself while I am still a student. I was given a rank. I am the sixth man in our cult; my job was to sing during meetings. Even though I have been a cultist for about two years, I have never robbed or raped anyone because the Alora cult is not a violent group, we mind our business.”
Giving further details on his arrest with an illegal firearm, Bolade said a security operative on campus, who saw Badmus handing him the firearm, had alerted the school authority, who later alerted the anti-cultism unit.
He, however, maintained he had not committed an offence since he is not the owner of the firearm, but only kept it for the actual owner.
“On the day I was arrested, my friend, Ayobami gave me his bag containing a wallet and his credentials to hold for him when he was about entering the examination hall. Later, the number three man in the cult hierarchy, Badmus gave me a gun to keep for him unknown to me that a security officer saw when he was giving it to me.
“Well, prior to when he gave me the gun, there have been pockets of the attack on campus. One of the students was robbed and severely beaten and everyone was on the alert. Badmus gave me the gun because he felt no one would ever suspect that I had a weapon with me because of my innocent looks. The security man must have seen when Badmus was giving the gun to me from afar.
“The police came to arrest me while I was writing my examination. I don’t know where Badmus is because, with the situation on the ground, he must be on the run. However, the police arrested my friend, Ayobami because of the bag he gave to me to hold for him. Now that I have been arrested, I feel so bad. But I haven’t committed any crime, it is just because I am a cultist and a weapon was found with me. My advice to young people is to stay away from cultism.”
The police operatives had also arrested Kusimo Ayobami, who is also a member of the gang, and owner of the bag in which Bolade kept the gun.
It was gathered that when Ayobami heard his friend Bolade had been arrested, knowing his bag and credentials were with the suspect, and that he would be implicated, he had in an attempt to distort investigation, gone to report at the Igando Police Station that his bag and credentials were snatched at gunpoint.
The police had asked that he presents a sworn affidavit, knowing the implication, the HND I student of Architecture fled but was later arrested.
Ayobami, who is now pleading for mercy said his arrest has further worsened the health of his sick mother.
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He said: “I was arrested on October 30, I was arrested inside the examination hall. When I received information that Bolade had been arrested, I knew I would be linked because of my bag and wallet that I gave to him. In a bid to get myself out of the mess, I sought for advice from my friends, who told me to go to the police and get police reports that robbers dispossessed me of my bag and wallet containing my identity cards.
“I regret giving Bolade my bag. If I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t have given him. Now, see where it has landed me. I did not plan my life this way, I know what it took me to return to school for my HND programme, after my National Diploma at Ilaro Polythenic. I had to work for a while to raise the funds needed to further my studies. My sick mother’ health has deteriorated further since my arrest.”
