by ‘Jola Sotubo

An Ilorin secret cult has suffered a huge blow as three of its members are alleged to have been killed and 18 more arrested.

The victims who were allegedly members of the Eiye Confraternity died after a raid of their hideout by police officers and vigilante members while the initiation ceremony of new members into the cult was ongoing.

According to reports, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Olufemi Fabode, said the initial information the police gathered was that armed robbers were, on Saturday night, hiding in a bush behind NASFAT village along Airport Road in Ilorin.

Fabode said “This prompted various vigilance groups in the communities around the place to mount surveillance on the area particularly on all roads leading to the bush and waited until the early hours of Sunday when the Eiye Confraternity began the initiation.

“On noticing that security personnel had laid ambush for them, they ran into the waiting hands of the people who mistook them for armed robbers and opened fire on them”.

The PPRO said in the ensued exchange of gun fires, three of the cult members fell and they were about to be set ablaze before intervention by the police.

He said four others also got critically injured while 18 of them were arrested.

Fabode said some of the cult members came from Lagos, Osun and Oyo states, promising that more of them would be arrested soon.

He said the cult members ran into various directions when they heard that some of their colleagues had been arrested by the police.

The bodies of those killed were, however, deposited at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) mortuary, while those injured were taken to another hospital for treatment.

Fabode called for useful information to the police with a view to make the state crime-free.
He urged parents to monitor the movement of their wards.

The police spokesman said: “Some of those arrested have disclosed that they were yet to gain admission to higher institutions neither did their parents know their whereabouts. If this could happen, then they would graduate to become kingpin of the group.”