Police to interrogate parents of arrested teenage cultists

The Lagos State Police Command has said it will interrogate all parents of the underage suspected cultists arrested recently by the police. Aside interrogating them, the police also said it would extract an undertaking from all the parents to ensure that other members of their family would be catered for. The Police Commissioner, Imohimi Edgal, […]

The Lagos State Police Command has said it will interrogate all parents of the underage suspected cultists arrested recently by the police.

Aside interrogating them, the police also said it would extract an undertaking from all the parents to ensure that other members of their family would be catered for.

The Police Commissioner, Imohimi Edgal, made this disclosure at a press conference held on Monday at the command headquarters, Ikeja.

He said the decision to arrest the parents was sequel to the increasing rate at which teenagers were joining various secret cult gangs.

He said the increasing rate was becoming frightening, such that if something was not done it could lead to high cases of murder among youths.

At an earlier press conference, Edgal threatened to evoke the instrumentality of the law to prosecute parents whose underage children were found to be members of secret cult gangs.

“He said, “Seven out of the 20 suspected members of the different cult gangs arrested in Lagos are underage. They were arrested while on their way to perform their initiation into the Eiye cult gang.”

One of the suspected underage cultists (name withheld), told Daily Trust that he was told that they were going for a birthday party. “We were going for a party at Igbogbo, Ikorodu around 10: 30pm when the police stopped us, they asked us questions, like ‘where we were going to’, we told them we were going to a birthday party. I suspected that the police stopped us because we were many inside the car. 

“I belong to Eiye confraternity. One of my friends forced me about a month ago. I was initiated under the bridge at Obalende. At the initiation, they beat us, after the beating, they gave us hot drink like Chelsea, and they said we are now rugged and we are now men.”

Another member of the gang, Eko John, 19, also said he was invited to the birthday party by one Garuba, and that they were arrested while on their way.