21-year-old cultist, Austin Akinyemi, has said that he was deceived into joining the Eiye confraternity by his friend in Edo State.
Akinyemi was arrested by the police on June 15, and paraded alongside 14 other cultists by the Edo Commissioner of Police, Abutu Yaro.
Speaking with Daily Trust, he said; “I joined the group in 2017. I didn’t know I was going to join a cult group. My friend only asked me to come and join their meeting so that we would be doing it together.
“When I inquired about the nature of the meeting, he said they were using the meeting to help themselves and that it would also benefit me in the long run.
“He also told me that they were using it to help members; that if any member had any event, all the other members would join hands to assist and celebrate with the member.
“It was when I got to the venue that it dawned on me that I was being deceived into joining a secret cult. I never knew the meeting he was talking about was the secret cult group.”
The suspect said they were arrested by the police while celebrating the Eiye confraternity day at a beer parlor on Siloko Road, Benin City.
The state police spokesperson, Chidi Nwabuzor, while parading the suspects, said they were arrested at the venue of their Eiye day celebration in the full regalia of the confraternity.
Nwabuzor disclosed that, “One pump action gun, one double-barrel gun, one live cartridge and one face mask of the cult group were recovered from them.