From Priscilla Ediare, Ado Ekiti
The Ekiti State Police Command has paraded 17 suspects for various criminal offences in the state.
Among the suspects paraded were a couple, Bello Lateef and Bello Jumoke and one Adewoye Ayodeji for cultism. They were alleged to have sponsored the recent cult clash between Eiye and Black Axe ‘Aiye’ confraternities, in Ado-Ekiti, the capital of the state.
The couple was paraded alongside 15 others for offences bothering on rape, kidnapping and armed robbery
The Commissioner of Police in Ekiti, Ogundare Dare, said the command has clamped down on the suspects in connection with different reprehensive crimes.
Parading the suspects at the Command’s headquarters, in Ado Ekiti, the State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Sunday Abutu, said operatives of the Rapid Response Squad(RRS)while acting upon a tip-off arrested a couple, Bello Lateef a.k.a AWOLU and Bello Jumoke, and one Adewoye Ayodeji for being suspected members of secret cults and sponsoring the clash between the supreme Eiye confraternity and Black Axe ‘Aiye’ confraternity in Ado-Ekiti recently.
During interrogation, the suspects confessed to being drug traffickers.
He added, in a bid to curb the clash between the rival secret cult groups known as Black Axe Aiye and Supreme Eiye Confraternity, the Command operatives, through intelligence gathering, arrested one Malik Jamiu a.k.a Jamorano, a suspected member of a secret cult group.
Upon the arrest of the suspect, two locally made pistols and two live cartridges were found in his possession.
During the investigation, the suspect confessed to being a member of one of the secret cult groups and mentioned the names of other members at large.
Efforts to arrest other fleeing members are in progress.
The police spokesperson also explained that the command’s Rapid Response Squad arrested Augustine Agbogbo, Adeniyi Olamilekan, Williams Friday and Ademoh Gabriel inside the forest close to the Igede farm settlement.
During interrogation, the suspects confessed to being members of a kidnapping syndicate who had engaged in a series of kidnapping operations in Ekiti State including the kidnapping of one Ajibade Adeleke on 06/06/2022 at Igede farm settlement in Ayede-Ekiti, the kidnapping of one Eisape Victoria on 20/12/2022, amongst others where ransoms were collected.
Similarly, during a bush combing in Kajola Forest Reserve Usman Ali and Aliu Sheu were apprehended for allegedly involving in different kidnapping cases in Ekiti State.
In another development, Abutu told journalists that a notorious kidnapper, Abubakar Bello through a tip-off was arrested by the men of the command with synergy with Amotekun Security Network in Ado Ekiti.
Mr Abutu said Usman Bature was caught in Oke Ako Ekiti for alleged kidnapping while Nurenu Isah, Igbekele Fagbemi and Sunday Olawoye were arrested by the command operatives along Ijan road, Ado Ekiti for kidnapping.
During the investigation, it was revealed that the arrested suspects were among the hoodlums that laid siege along Oke Ako/Irele road on 03/09/2022, where the vehicle conveying one Ayebulu Segun, a Civil Defence Officer alongside his siblings, was attacked. The officer was shot by the hoodlums and died on the spot while two other members of his family were kidnapped. Concerted efforts intensified by the Command operatives later led to the rescue of the two kidnapped victims.
In another case Abutu said, the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Command on 4/3/2023 at about 18:00hrs, arrested one Jimoh Gani for participating in the robbing and raping of a student of the University of Education, Ikere-Ekiti.
Investigation revealed that the victim boarded a vehicle from Ado-Ekiti to Oye-Ekiti but on their way to Oye-Ekiti, the driver changed the route and took her to A.U.D Secondary School where she was gang raped by the suspect alongside two others who are currently at large and robbed of her Tecno phone valued sixty-five thousand naira and a cash sum of sixteen thousand naira.
During interrogation, the suspect confessed to having committed the heinous crime alongside one Femi Ayobami and Alfa Kayode, all of Ado-Ekiti, who escaped the scene during the arrest.
He urged residents of the state to be security conscious, and vigilant and report any untoward incident or happening observed in their locality to the nearest police station.