Christopher Oji
Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Mr. Imohimi Edgal, has decried the rising spate of cultism in the state, attributing it to lack of parental care. Edgal, who spoke at a town hall meeting, lamented: “The increase in cultism in the state has reached an alarming stage that we all need to declare a state of emergency on cultism. I asked one of my officers to do in-dept research or investigation on the reasons for increase in cultism among the young ones and it was revealed that six out of 10 children are into cultism. This is not good for the growth of our country. What are their reasons? Investigation revealed that they join for supremacy over others. They join to avoid intimidation by their peers. They join so that they have an edge over girls in their communities.
“Who is to blame? Parents are to blame. It is a shame that we, the parents, have failed woefully. Majority of us are even afraid to talk to our children. We fear to tell them the truth. Some of you keep quiet when you see your children going wrong so that people will not hear you talking to them. Some of you are outrightly afraid of your children and it is shame on you. Some of us don’t sleep at home to monitor what our children are doing. How many times have you paid a surprise visit to your children’s schools and how many times have you checked what is in your children’s rooms and their bags to know what they bring into your house? We arrested some children between 1am and 2am during initiation into cult groups. These children were between the ages of 15 and 20. Tell me how a child of 15 will leave the parent’s house at unholy hours without their parent’s knowledge. Shame on you, if you are such a father. Go back home and take charge of your children as we are losing them to drugs, crime and cultism.
“I want to appeal to parents to understand that our children are the future hope of our country; if we allow them to miss it, we will have no hope and no future leaders to take over from us. What legacy are we leaving behind for our children? The general election is fast approaching, tell your children not to be used to foment trouble by unscrupulous politicians whose children are not even in the country. Don’t let your children be used to cause breach of peace in the country, as anyone caught will be prosecuted. Those who are eligible to vote should go to the polling stations with their PVCs and return home after casting their votes.”
Oba of Igbobi-Sabo Kingdom, HRM Owolabi Adeyemi Adeniyi, said he totally agreed that a state of emergency should be declared on cultism. “I see many of them with tattoos all over their bodies and most of the tattoos are symbols of one secret cult or the other.”