The Lagos State Police Command says it has arrested a suspected leader of the Aiye confraternity, a secret cult group in the state, who it identified simply as Shola.
The suspect was said to be widely known in cult circles in the Mile 2-Badagry expressway axis as Okoko Danger.
The Command announced it also arrested four other suspected members of the dreaded gang, namely Idris Musa, 19; Oluwaseyi Oguntobi, 23; Ramon Adebimpe, 18; and Saheed Kareem, 19.
The police alleged that Shola, who they described as “’a deadly and notorious armed robber”, was behind the many killings in the Okokomaiko, Igando, Isheri-Osun and Ikotun areas of the state.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, told journalists yesterday at the Command Headquarters, Ikeja, that on February 27, 2020 at about 4.20pm, police operatives from the Special
Anti-Robbery Squad, acting on credible intelligence, stormed a hideout at Iyana-Iba, where Shola and his gang members were said to be hibernating.
“Four locally made pistols with three live cartridges were recovered from them. In a follow-up investigation, three other suspects were arrested in some criminals’ hideouts at Ilupeju and Onipanu in the Lagos mainland.
“Those three suspects are Tosin Benjamin, alias Lube, 37; Segun Ogunmola, alias Alapata, 28; and Joseph Oyebowale, 33.
“Two locally made double-barrel pistols with three live cartridges were recovered from them. The suspects are also top members of the Aiye confraternity and are linked to many cases of murder and armed robbery. Investigation is on-going. The suspects will be charged to court at the end of investigations,” Odumosu said.
The police Commissioner also announced the arrest of 19 suspected cult members allegedly for violence and battle for supremacy in the Ogudu area of the state.
He said that in one of the cultists’ clashes, two persons died, while a few other persons sustained various degrees of injuries.
The police also said that they arrested “a deadly Aiye confraternity kingpin”, Sikiru Samuel, alias Samora, 24, and eight members of his gang in Ikorodu “in our continued efforts to sustain the ongoing
onslaught on cultists and other social miscreants in Ikorodu, Imota, Agbowa, Owutu, Ijede, Ipakodo and Owode Onirin in the Ikorodu axis.”
According to Odumosu, the gang was responsible for series of violent attacks and gang violence in Imota and its environs. “One of such violent attacks happened on February 12, 2020 at about 8am, which led
to the death of one David Nwanga, 30, of Araro Adamo area. The suspects will be charged to court,” he said.
