Court frees 8 suspected teenage cultists

An Ikeja chief magistrate’s court yesterday discharged eight teenagers charged with membership of a confraternity known as “Awawa’’ in Agege, in the Lagos metropolis.   Magistrate B.O. Osunsanmi discharged the teenagers for lack of diligent prosecution.   The teenagers, whose ages ranged from 13 to 19 years, were among those arrested in February 2016, by the Rapid […]

An Ikeja chief magistrate’s court yesterday discharged eight teenagers charged with membership of a confraternity known as “Awawa’’ in Agege, in the Lagos metropolis.  

Magistrate B.O. Osunsanmi discharged the teenagers for lack of diligent prosecution.  

The teenagers, whose ages ranged from 13 to 19 years, were among those arrested in February 2016, by the Rapid Response Squad of the state police command during a raid on criminals’ hideouts in Agege.

 But Osunsanmi, warning the teenagers to refrain from criminal activities, urged parents and guardians to monitor their children and wards properly to prevent them from bad peer group influence.

 According to the prosecutor, Mr Simeon Imhonwa, the teenagers were arrested following complaints from residents of Agege.  

Counsel to some of the teenagers, Mr G.O. Adesanya, said that the teenagers were picked up while returning from a social function early in the day. “They were arrested on mere sighting of tattoos on one of them. The police arraigned them without proper investigation,” he said.