The Police in Ogun State have said 13 underage students arrested recently while carrying out initiation into a cult group will soon be arraigned in court.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said, “Though most of the suspects are minors, they will face the court over the offence.”
Oyeyemi, an assistant superintendent of police, however, didn’t disclose the specific date the minors would be taken to court.
The 13 suspected student cultists were arrested by the police at Mosunmore village near Abeokuta, the state capital.
The age of the minors ranges between 10 and 13.
Other male members of the suspected group are also in their early teens, but their leader is older. He is 19 years old.
A police source told our correspondent that the underage suspects were arrested with the efforts of the residents of Mosunmore village.
It was gathered that a woman, whose daughter had confessed to have been initiated by the cult group, assisted the police to arrest the minors.
“Apparently disturbed by her unusual outing, the woman pestered her daughter, who later confessed that she was initiated into a cult group. Consequently, policemen stormed the area and successfully apprehended the 13 youngsters in the process of initiating yet another set of underage girls,” the state Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, said.
The girls, all primary six school leavers, confessed to being lured into the cult group by the boys.
Leader of the cult group, popularly known as “Penalty Guys,” 19-year-old Tunde Adio, narrated how he was initiated by one Tosin in January 2017, adding that they came about their own group’s name when the church attended by his third-in-command, 13-year-old Adewale Raphael, organised a picnic.
“We decided to do customised vests with the inscription ‘Penalty Guys’. This was what attracted the girls and they agreed to be initiated,” Adio said.
Adio’s second-in-command, Silas Sunday, 15, was also arrested during the raid by the police.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, Iliyasu, had earlier ordered that the suspects be transferred to the Anti-Kidnapping and Cultism Unit of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation and prosecution.
