One of the two suspects arrested by Ogun State Police Command, Owoseni Gbemisola, has opened up on how he was forcefully initiated into cultism by fellow students in the university and continually oppressed and intimidated to continue as a member.
Gbemisola, a 25-year-old fourth year student of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye in Ogun State, was arrested along with Ogunsola Ayo, also a student of the institution, for allegedly forcing a student into cult initiation by Eiye Confraternity members, after he was lured to Ijebu Igbo, with the pretence of his being taken there to start a job.
On getting to Ijebu Igbo, the victim was reportedly blindfolded, beaten, leading to an injury on his eyebrow, and forced to become an Eiye cult member.
According to the command’s Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, while speaking on the arrest on Sunday, when the report was brought to Ago Iwoye Police Station, the Divisional Police Officer in charge, SP Noah Adekanye, got detectives of his division working and their efforts yielded fruits when they apprehended Gbemisola. They were said to have also arrested the second suspect, Ayo, whom the victim said was part of the group that forced initiation on him.
Another suspect, who lured the victim into initiation, had gone into hiding and currently wanted by the police.
In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, Gbemisola, said he was also forcefully initiated by the Eiye cult members, and just used by them to deceive the victim that he was the former president of the Student Union Government bearing the same name as him. He also claimed that he never knew they wanted to initiate the victim and only visited Ijebu Igbo to collect his belongings confiscated by the cult group members to force him into being an active member.
Hear him: “I’m Gbemisola, a 25-year-old student of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye. I’m in 400 level. There was an allegation of forceful initiation of a young man into Eiye Confraternity, but it is not true. I didn’t engage in the initiation. Yes, I was initiated into the cult also, but I have not been participating.
“I was initiated into the cult group on December 20, 2019 by Olanrewaju. He’s not a student of OOU. I didn’t know him before the initiation. What happened was that I was invited to come and host a programme somewhere in an event centre known as Map Lounge in Ago Iwoye. The students were from Tai Solarin University. It’s what I do as Master of Ceremony for survival. My friend, Latest, from Kwara Polytechnic, Offa, referred me to Helen, his former girlfriend through my advertisement on WhatsApp platform.
“When I got the hosting of the event, my agreement with those who organized the event was that I would be given a room to sleep at the end of the programme at about 2am.
“When I was given the room, I went into it. I heard a knock on my door and thinking it was the receptionist or the bar man, I opened it, only to see three guys. They told me they loved the way I ran the show properly and would like me to come to their school to run other social weeks. They were Olanrewaju and two others. After we talked for a while, I knew where they were going but didn’t know it would be that swift. They were talking about cult-related matters and the number of artistes belonging to confraternities.
“I told them I wanted to sleep, just for one of them to give me a slap, asking me to remove my clothes and be naked. They said it was time to get ‘fine’. I didn’t want to do it but when I was being slapped repeatedly, and because they were not OOU students, I lay on the ground. They beat me and asked me to kneel and close my eyes. They said I should repeat an oath they were saying. They told me to obey what the confraternity is about.
“As I closed my eyes, I was fed with something I didn’t know. They asked me to swallow it. I was given alcohol to drink, after that, they asked me to open my eyes and the gin was poured into them. That was how the initiation ended, and they asked me to get up.
“I was given ‘Eagle’ as bird name. I’ve been invited to take a position in the forest but I didn’t follow them until a series of my property was being seized by them or taken by force. Then I approached them and they said I needed to ‘elevate’ so that such things would not happen again and I would be able to defend myself.
“I paid about N50,000, forfeited my iPhone 8Plus, power bank, speaker, clothes, and they were still coming. They said I was already Number Six as an Eagle.
“They stopped disturbing me for a while. I took leave of absence from school because of the disturbance. I couldn’t tell my father because I was scared of his condemnation, but told my mum. In my early years in the institution, I had been intimidated by members of Neo Black Movement, popularly known as Aiye Confraternity. I was assaulted in school. I was scared that if I should report to the school authority or the police, they could look for me to harm me.
“I told my elder brother and he asked me to keep a low profile.
“For the Eiye Confraternity case, I had to run to Lagos because I was told that I didn’t use to join them, call them or hold meetings with them. Those were their excuses for disturbing me. They would come to pick my things. There was a day they seized my laptop and I had to be with them for 24 hours and paid a sum of money before it was given back to me. I gave the school an excuse of my medical condition to stay away. I stayed in Osun State for some time during the COVID pandemic in 2020.”
On his arrest, he said on his return to school in June for reinstatement, his property was seized again by Eiye cult members.
According to him, “I was asked to come to Ijebu Igbo for a meeting to retrieve my phone, power bank and purse. When I got there, I met with a colleague in school and a member of the cult, with the boy (victim). The victim was lured through deception that he would meet with the president of the Student Union Government (SUG). I have the same name with the former SUG president and I guess that was why Yemi was able to deceive the victim to the event for initiation. I never had initial plan or agreement with Yemi so I didn’t know what it was all about, but I knew it was either because of politics or academic.
“After my encounter with the victim, I was sent on errands to Ago Iwoye before I could get my things back, so I could not return until the following day. When I got there, I saw the victim, Yemi and other residents of the compound they were in the previous night. I saw a cut on the victim’s eyebrow. I asked him what happened but he could not give me a sound reply. I asked that he should be taken home to treat his injury. That was my last encounter with him.
“About five days ago, a friend of mine was coming from Lagos to conclude his clearance in school. He called me that he needed a place to stay for two days and I told him I was also squatting in a house in Oru. He was arrested in the town for possession of weed the night he arrived. We only knew ourselves while I was in 100 level.
“The following day, I went to the police station to arrange how he would be bailed, and contact with his people, only to see the victim again in front of the police station after a long time.”
The second suspect, Ayo, aged 26 and studying Transport in OOU, said that he was not a cult member, and was not privy to the forceful initiation carried out on the victim, but was just circumstantially present at the event where they met before he left to avoid being initiated.
According to the 400 level student, he was among those picked by the police when they raided his residence after Gbemisola’s friend was arrested for the possession of marijuana.
“The police came to raid the house to get others with weed. They arrested all of us. At the police station, I was told that the victim pointed at me as being part of his forceful initiation. But I’m not a cultist. I just happened to be where I passed an alcohol drink to him. I was invited to the event by a friend, Sola. Before then, I didn’t know that Sola was a cultist. It was that day I found out that he was.
“I was not part of the victim’s initiation. What happened was that they passed me a drink and I passed it to the victim. I was not initiated that day. I noticed what was going on and took an excuse to ease myself. The atmosphere was different. The music they were listening to was not regular. They were more like Eiye cult songs. That was how I ran away. I’ve moved to three different houses as different confraternities were approaching me to join them and I didn’t want to get myself involved in something like that,” Ayo explained.
In his comment, the PPRO, DSP Oyeyemi said that the state Commissioner of Police, LanreBankole, had ordered the transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation and subsequent prosecution in a law court.
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