■ Residents narrate ordeal. We need
more police presence –Monarch
BY PHILIPS OJO
The once peaceful Iba community in
Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos
State is gradually losing her
innocence and tranquillity to the
violent activities and reign of cultists
who are predominantly students at all
levels. This is largely due to the
proximity of the community to the
main campus of the state university,
LASU.
They scatter, shatter, rape, burgle, kill
and terrorise residents to the point
that it has become a crime to report
such incidents to the police whenever
they occur, looking only to God mostly
for divine protection from brutal
cultists.
Investigations by Saturday Sun
showed that the prominent cult group
in the community is the Eiye
confraternity, which came into
prominence in the area when the level
of cult activities was at its peak in
LASU eventhough the problem began
in the area around early 2000. Some
parts of the community largely
affected include Iba Housing Estate,
Ipaye, Igbo-Elerin, and Iyana School.
A prominent resident of the area, Mr.
Aderinto (not real name) blamed stu­
dents for cult activities in the
community. He stated that there can
only be respite if the school
authorities are able to minimise
cultism on campus, “from where they
began devolving into the streets and
bringing their influences into the
streets and initiating most of the boys
in the Iba community who today are
the ones now manifesting wickedness
in the community.” It was learnt that
the cultists have further grown in size
and influence due to the involvement
of a prominent prince of the
community (names withheld) as a
member of Eiye confraternity. Though
a very close source to the palace
revealed that the prince is no more a
member of the group, he added: “The
seed he has sown is part of what is
making cultism thrive in the land.”
Because of the activities of the
criminal gangs, most bus stops in the
area have become death zones. Once
it is 7pm, the look on the face of
everybody is that of suspicion and
fear. Agali Amadi (not real name)
disclosed that if he goes out of Iba by
4pm, he would start leaving where he
is to return home. “As someone that
was born in this community, I would
say that I have seen enough, though I
thank God that today I am a living
testimony, else I would have been
dead. I was threatened to join them
because most of the boys threatening
the environment today, we all grew up
together. They chased me to the
extent that I had to hide in a church
for several months. With the fact that
I know most of them physically, they
have attacked me several times and
collected my phones and even my
wallets”, he stated. On one of the
occasions, Amadi was able to collect
his phone back when he went to meet
the head of the cult in the area.
Some of the leaders of the cult group
are spread across different zones.
Williams is known to be the leader of
the Victory Estate wing of the cult,
Aliyah is the leader of the
Mosadolohun wing, Michael leads the
Iba Estate group, while Pedro, Sunny
Pa and others operate within Iba
estate and part of the new site. It was
also learnt that their meeting base is
scattered within the community. Some
meet at Adoff, another group meets at
Aratumi, while another group meets at
the estate too.
A source revealed that even the Eiye
boys sometimes attack and rob
themselves. Due to their activities, no
cyber cafe can be found in the whole
of the Iba estate. All of the cyber
cafes have closed shop because of
burgling and other attacks. Mr.
Chinwe used to own a cafe in the new
site. He explains why he closed shop.
“I started a cyber cafe business, and
one morning all I saw was that my
shop was burgled, laptops and
desktops were taken away. I took it in
my stride and restocked and again the
same thing happened. One day we
were in the shop with some
customers, suddenly some boys came
in and robbed us of all our belongings.
It was this time I made up my mind to
leave”. Rukayat on her own part
explained that, carrying a bag on the
street often makes one an object of
attack. “They will come after you and
collect the bag from you. One day I
carried a bag of books and they came
after me, the next thing I heard was a
slap from behind and that was how
six boys hijacked the bag from me”,
she added.
It was further gathered that new
gangs have sprung up from the Eiye
gangs. These evolving gangs are
dissatisfied with the Eiye cult group
and have come up with their own line
of activities. Four new local cult
groups have so far emerged in the
community as at today. They include
Obosso boys, Jargon boys, Olomi
boys (water boys), and Shey Eti ready
(are you ready) boys. A source
revealed that, because these boys
cannot cope with some of the
demands of the bigger cult groups,
they decided to form their own,
though most of them are former
members of the Eiye cult.
The age range of members of these
groups usually is between 14 and 19,
most of who are young school leavers
and dropouts. Their main weapons
are machetes, bottles, iron rods and
guns. People cannot walk alone by
5am to go to their places of work,
they must go with one or two people
as escorts, else they will be robbed.
These boys are after phones, money,
wristwatches, motorcycles. Isiaka
laments how N100,000 was collected
from him. “The money was meant to
buy building materials for a client,
because I collected the money the
previous night and that was how in
front of the local council which is an
open space I was tracked, beaten and
the money was collected”. Another
bitter consequence of the cult
activities is that commercial vehicles
that usually load at Iba New site have
all stopped loading there especially
those going to Esa garage due to the
control of the motor park by the
cultists.
Mamud hints that there are no safe
corners in Iba. “Everywhere and
anywhere you think you can go to,
these boys are right there, they are so
many that they can’t even be
numbered.” He explained further that
just around mid-February, they beat
and tied up to the electric pole, some
elderly men who were vigilantes
guarding the community. He further
hinted that they operate as armed
robbers, rape girls and they also fight
because of girls. Investigations also
revealed that some of the okada riders
in the community are members of the
different gangs, hence most of their
raids and activities are done using
motor cycles.
In January, the cultists launched a
major raid on early risers around 5am
and they robbed a lot of people who
were going for their daily businesses.
Some of the victims, who spoke to
Saturday Sun explained that they lost
valuables in the incident. Agbeke Aina
explained that she was on her way to
the market when they began the raid,
soon they got to her and collected all
her money which she wanted to use
to by goods to sell in her shop. Tosin
Funmi explained that as she stepped
out of her house, it was in the waiting
hands of the cultists that she landed
and they did not hesitate to collect her
phone, money and wristwatch.
Another major characteristic of the
cult boys is gang fight. They are
always at loggerheads and whenever
they are, they bring down hell with
them. At a party that was held
recently in the area, one person lost
his life. Some of the eyewitnesses ex­
plained that a lady was dancing and a
guy approached her and because she
declined dancing with the fellow,
trouble ensued. “Sometimes, these
boys would just spring up fight
without any cause and once people
have taken cover for shelter, they
begin looting shops and wreaking
havoc.” Madam Aminatu is a victim
of such incident. She explained that
she on one occasion, lost all her
frozen foods which she bought to
sell. “It was as if these boys had been
monitoring me, immediately we just
saw them fighting and I closed my
shop and took cover, before we came
back, they had broken into my shop
and taken my stuffs away”. Ibrahim
Bakare, a prominent person in the
town, revealed that in January, a
Senatorial candidate came around the
area and gave money to people at
Igbo-Elerin which is some distance
from Iba new site, the cultists began
breaking the windscreen of vehicles in
Iba community in protest.
According to Alabi Oso: “Almost all the
children of the indigenes are involved
in cultism, they are also the ones
giving the strangers in the community
the power to operate. Aside this, most
of the so-called young guys who are
OPC members are also among these
boys who are terrorizing the
community.” Ariyo Amao also notes
that the absence of police station at
the new site of Iba is the major cause
of the rise in the activities of cultists.
He stated further that the police too,
are also in the habit of raiding
innocent victims after such incidents
are over.
Asafa Akanbi noted that the king of
Iba community has tried to make sure
that the cult boys are got rid of but
some other people, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, explained that
where the king’s palace is located is
so far from where most of the cult
activities take place.
Inside the Iba estate, daylight robbery
is very common. Gangs of Indian
hemp smoking youths are often seen
stopping buses and robbing their
passengers at will. Some of the
dangerous zones in the estate are the
estate market, estate field and around
the estate secondary school, the two
small estate back gates. Mrs.
Adanigbo Abata, said: “As a nurse, I
was on night duty and before I could
come back in the morning, my house
had been burgled”.
The king’s response
Saturday Sun spoke with the King of
Iba community, Oba Yushau Goriola
Oseni on the development. He
explained that most of the time, he
joins the local vigilante teams set up
by the community to keep watch over
the area. “I do join the local vigilantes
to keep watch over the community
most of the time. During our watch,
anybody that we get hold of, we hand
them over to the police and I myself
do follow them to court to make sure
that such children are sentenced”. He
hinted that with this, they have been
able to curtail the activities of the
cultists in different locations.
The king would like the government to
help them make sure that the Police
Station located at Adoff bus stop
becomes a full divisional police
station. The police post sited at Adoff
bus stop cannot function effectively
because it is under the authority of the
Ojo police station. “We have written to
the CP and we are working tirelessly
to make sure that this post becomes a
full station so that we can site police
posts in other areas of the town to
curb the menace”.
The paramount ruler also revealed
that he has plans to set up chiefs and
lesser rulers called Baale at the heart
of the troubled zones so that they can
be his eyes and ears and help curb the
menace.
The king added that the precarious se­
curity situation is mainly caused by
jobless youths. “It is the idle hand and
mind that is the devil’s workshop, I
want to urge the government to
provide more jobs for the youths”. He
explained that there have been
situations where some of the boys
that were caught would confess that
they had good jobs before but due to
the absence of electricity to work,
their friends then introduced them to
crime and they had no choice because
they were hungry.

source: elotitv.com/entry/reign-of-cultists-in-iba-community

Ok. What sort of graduates and leaders would these [people] make when they eventually graduate? I pity my dear country and my dear Lagos with these sets of people.

Fairgodwin:
Ok. What sort of graduates and leaders would these [people] make when they eventually graduate? I pity my dear country and my dear Lagos with these sets of people.

I grew up in that area and I know most of them they never neared any university gate.they are touts.they can't even speak pidgin fluently let alone English... we just need more security presence in the area...some of them have influential families so they always return even after being caught by SARS.

mods please move this to front paga ooo...

neroflo57:
mods please move this to front paga ooo...

Front paga...

neroflo57:


I grew up in that area and I know most of them they never neared any university gate.they are touts.they can't even speak pidgin fluently let alone English... we just need more security presence in the area...some of them have influential families so they always return even after being caught by SARS.

Just imagine that. Well, I hope something is done to curb all these social disturbance(s).

we ve been hoping for a while now

This is really serious I have to say...

starlingbawa:
This is really serious I have to say...

it's terrifying

I grew up in that area and I know most of them they never neared any university gate.they are touts.they can't even speak pidgin fluently let alone English... we just need more security presence in the area...some of them have influential families so they always return even after being caught by SARS.

I agree with you.if you see almost all of them they look so Scruffy and malnourished that you begin to wonder that what are these riffraffs doing with all the money they steal from people

Meanwhile it's not possible for them to move near lasu gate na.they know say them go meet the ones wey pass them.those security for there no get joy o.them go beat them like bata t before handing them over to SARS who will now finish work for their body.nq because security no dey there they're having a field day.the moment security comes they'll respect themselves

mods please move this to front paga ooo...

Hmmmm front POS nko?


Attention seeker

Cultism everywhere