SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN VARSITY CULT CONFESS: We wanted to be feared by our teachers!

"We wanted to be feared by our teachers and untouchable in town. We equally wanted to be in control. That is why we joined cult groups in Adekunle Ajasin University”.

This was the confession of two secondary school students, Sadiq Jimoh and Raji Wasiu, of Oroke High School, Akungba-Akoko accused of being cult members at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA). Jimoh and Wasiu were said to have been lured by leaders of a cult group in the university in order to use them as foot soldiers while also using them to recruit their colleagues in their school. The suspects confessed to the police that they decided to join the cult after they were told what they could benefit if they became members.

“After they (cult members at AAUA) approached us, we agreed with them because we want to belong, want to be respected by our fellow student, we want our teachers to fear us, we don’t want any more harassment in school or in town”, they said. “They told us during initiation that once we became members, we would become untouchable in or out of school. “We were even told that money would be made available to us all the time if we agreed to be members”. According to the suspects, those who recruited them into the group assured them that even security agents, especially the police, would be afraid to touch, not to talk of arresting them. A police source disclosed to Sunday Vanguard that consequent upon their initiation into the cult, they began to terrorise Akungba-Akoko community and environs. Suspected cult leaders at the university were named as Peter Yoyiho, a 400-level student in plant science and biotechnology, and Daramola Temitope, a 400-level student in English and literary studies. Their cult group was identified as Aiye Confraternity.

Tip-off

Nemesis, it was learnt, caught up with the suspects when, acting on a tip-off, police detective swooped on them at a popular hotel in the university town where they were allegedly meeting preparatory to launching an attack on a rival cult. Confirming the arrest of the suspects, Ondo State Police Commissioner, Gbenga Adeyanju, said, “On 06/06/2018, at about 3.30p.m., information was received that some suspected cultists, who had been terrorizing Akungba-Akoko community and environs were planning an attack. “Based on the tip-off, detectives attached to Akungba Division swung into action and apprehended one Peter Yoyiho at a hotel who confessed to being a member of Aiye Confraternity. “Jimoh Taiwo and Daramola Temitope, said to belong to Aiye cult group were also arrested while Sadiq Jimoh and Raji Wasiu, both students of Oroke High School who confessed to being members of Scorpion cult group, were apprehended too”. The commissioner said that the four suspects may be charged to court depending on the outcome of investigation. Yoyiho, during an interview, told Sunday Vanguard he is a son of a military officer. The suspect cult leader said he joined the cult because he wanted to be among the “big boys on campus”. The suspect, who said he had brought shame to his parents, begged for forgiveness. He pleaded for a second chance after which he would turn a new leaf and become an advocate of ‘No to cultism in the university’.