The capital of Ogun State, Abeokuta, has reported the arrest of a gardener at one of its private institutions for alleged cult membership and weapons possession.
Emmanuel Victor, a 32-year-old gardener, and his five other conspirators were also detained.
They were captured by the So-Safe Corps as some of those terrorising Rounder and other areas of the Abeokuta North Local Government in Ogun State.
The private university gardener was detained during a stop-and-search operation, according to a statement released on Thursday by So-Safe State Commander, Soji Ganzallo. The officers of the corps were on patrol duty at Obasanjo Hilltop in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
Victor, a resident of Feyintolorun Community, Rounder, Abeokuta North, was reportedly searched at the estate’s access gate and discovered to be in possession of four live rounds of ammunition.
Ganzallo said that Victor confessed to having the ammunition found on him while he was coming from his employer’s house on the Obasanjo Hilltop during the preliminary investigation.
The man, according to the So-Safe Corps, works as a gardener at a private institution (name withheld) in Abeokuta.
The suspect is alleged to have mentioned Messrs. Isiaka Jimoh, 33; Oluwaseun Gabriel, 20; Ojeka Samuel, 19; and Adisa Rasheed, 19; all of whom reside in the Feyintolorun and Iyana Cele sections of Rounder, Abeokuta.
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Ganzallo added that the perpetrator admitted that one of his leaders in the cult, Mr. Olumide Abdullah, also known by the moniker “Maintain,” a resident of 5, Adehun, Iyana Cele, Rounder, had asked him to collect the ammo.
It was learned that the gang could have obtained a rifle if not for the cashless policy, which required them to spend the N20,000 generated for the purpose.
Several members of the group, which Ganzallo claimed has its headquarters at Adogbon Store, Rounder in Abeokuta, are currently on the loose.
Ganzallo noted that the perpetrators and the items recovered from them—three axes, five cutlasses, four scissors, one knife, one Islamic rosary, and one spinner—had been transferred to the police Anti-Cultism Unit, Oke-Ijemo, Abeokuta for further investigation and subsequent transfer to the State Police Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta.
