I joined Eiye cult group so as to have opportunities to mingle with important people –Suspect

•Says his cult bird’s name is vulture

A suspected head of a cult group, Eiye Confraternity, in a tertiary institution in Oyo State, Ayobami, has given his reason for the decision to join the group, saying he was told that it would give him opportunities to rise and mingle with important personalities.

Ayobami, 23 years old, who just completed his education at the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Moor Plantation, Ibadan, the state capital, and awaiting his results, said that he thought of where he rented, as a student living off campus, with its poor sanitary condition, and felt the need to live more comfortably as an Eiye cult member.

Ayobami and two others, Samuel and Sunday, were arrested by the Oyo State Police Command at Ring Road area of Ibadan over alleged possession of a firearm, a locally made cut-to-size gun and ammunition, which was recovered after the motorcycle they were riding on collided with a tricycle.

The transfer of the matter to the Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU) and subsequent interrogation led to the discovery of their being members of Eiye cult group.

According to the police spokesperson, DSP Olayinka Ayanlade, the three suspects confessed during interrogation to belonging to the Eiye Confraternity.

Ayobami, said to be Number One, was reported to be so brilliant in the institution that he got three awards as the best student in physics, but that seemed not satisfactory to him.

In an interview with the suspect, he disclosed that he got the gun found with him from a member of Eiye Confraternity. Ayobami confessed to being Number One in Eiye cult and gave his bird name as Vulture.

“I joined the cult group in November 2025. I was introduced to it by one Sanjo. Initially, I didn’t show any interest, but then, he told me that I would have opportunities to make money in the cult group, and as I thought of the poor condition I was living in, I agreed to join,” he told Sunday Tribune.

He added: “I was initiated in my room in November last year. Sanjo and two others came for the initiation. I was asked to close my eyes and say some things. I was slapped, after which I was told that I had become a member. Within months, I was given the Number One position because I was a student. Others were not students. We call our base (meeting place) nest.”

How I got the gun

He opened up on the gun recovered from him: “It was a fellow cultist, Lewis, who gave me the gun. He’s based in Osun State. He lent it to me when I told him I was going for a peace talk with Alora (Bucaneer) cult members, and I needed to secure myself against attack.

Ayobami admitted that the disagreement between the two rival cult groups was baseless, just a show of power and superiority.

“We were just abusing one another, throwing blows, and fighting. As a result of this, the institution invited security agency and about seven of us were picked up from Eiye and Alora cult groups. Though I was not among them, they later told me that they confessed to being cultists and were asked to sign an undertaking to be of good behaviour,” he stated.

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The suspect said further that the institution, while trying to prevent possible clash between the two cult groups outside the school premises, called for a peace talk which came up on Thursday, October 8.

This, according to him, prompted him to get a gun and two members of his group to protect him as Number One.

“We didn’t know what the rival group had in mind, so we were prepared in case of any eventuality,” Ayobami said. The 23-year-old student also revealed that he was taught how to shoot a gun by Lewis.

On what led to his arrest, Ayobami said: “Around 8:30 p.m., the motorcycle we were on hit a tricycle and we all fell. An argument ensued between us and the tricycle riders who had gathered, and I was injured. The police came to intervene, and that was when they saw the cut-to-size locally-made gun with a live cartridge that I threw aside.”

The second suspect, Samuel, aged 29, a solar installer, also confirmed being a cultist. He said that he knew Ayobami through the third suspect, Sunday. He said he was at home last Thursday when Sunday asked him if he was available to go with Ayobami for a peace talk, and he agreed to go.

“Around 4:00 p.m., Ayobami called us that the meeting with his institution’s Chief Security Officer was about to start in a bar at Odo Ona, and we moved close to the venue. However, the meeting did not eventually hold, so we left. I was the one who rode the bike which belongs to Sunday,” he said.

He admitted that he was speeding when he hit a tricycle, which resulted in a fracas. He said that they got into trouble when the policemen who came to intervene noticed an object dropped by Ayobami, which was found to be a gun when checked.

“I didn’t know he had a gun with him,” Samuel said. He said he joined the cult three months ago through one Yemi, who is also a solar installer.

“I noticed the way he used to greet some people, and when I asked him, he opened up to me that he’s a cultist and told me that there were opportunities that would be open to me if I would join and I did,” he said.

The third suspect, Sunday, who is a plank seller, said he joined the cult group in November 2024 through an internet fraudster whom he used to carry regularly as a passenger.

He said that he expressed a desire for the comfortable lifestyle of the fraudster/cultist, now based in the United Kingdom.

“I was a commercial motorcyclist who was struggling to survive. I had a customer called Sodiq who was an internet fraudster and saw his lifestyle. I asked him to teach me how to be an internet fraudster, and he said I should join his cult before he could teach me. I agreed and I was initiated.

“Two weeks later, he paid for my transportation and sent me to Ghana, where I was received by those involved in internet fraud. They accommodated, fed and trained me. I came back to Nigeria in February 2026,” he said.

He added that he was able to start his plank business after his training and the money he made while with others in Ghana, and had remained a cultist on his return.

When asked why he decided to engage in fraud and cultism, Sunday, showing no remorse, said that many people are doing the two, and that he, Ayobami and Sunday, were only exposed because they were arrested.

The PPRO said that investigation continues on the matter.