Cultism: OAU hands 12 students to police

Some students of Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, suspected to be cultists, have been detained at the Osun State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Osogbo.

The security unit of the school handed 12 suspected cultists to the CID in two batches on Wednesday and Friday, CAMPUS REPORTER learned.

John Udeh, a part 2 student of Social Studies Education; Mr Tobi Oladoye, a final year student of English Department; Ridwan Oluwatobi, a part 2 student of Local Government Studies; and another one said to be a graduate identified as ‘Jaaga’, were part of those arrested.

Their arrests followed alleged actions of violence committed on and off campus.

In a particular, Mr Udeh and Mr Oladoye were said to have been involved in gang-like attacks on each other.

Their case got to the security unit leading to revelations of more names allegedly involved in cultism.

Also, CAMPUS REPORTER learned that for the past three weeks, the security unit of the school has been inviting several students for interrogation.

One of the students invited, Michael Omowaye told CAMPUS REPORTER that he was summoned and that he denied being a member of any cult group except Kegites, the group of palm wine drinkers.

“I’ve cleared myself at investigations. These guys are my friends like any random persons but I’m not a cultist if they are,” he said.

Also, pictorial evidence of text messages made available to CAMPUS REPORTER indicated that an attempt to initiate some students was made. These were also sent to the School’s security unit.

However, the Chief Security officer of the school, Babatunde Oyatokun, has refused to comment on the arrest of the students.

He answered a call placed to his phone but quickly hung up when told of the reason for the call.

However, the spokesperson for the school spoke with this newspaper.

“The security unit of our University gathered some intelligence and acted on the basis of that intelligence gathering and it paid off in the sense that they were able to arrest some students suspected to be members of cultists’ movements,” said the spokesperson, Abiodun Olanrewaju.

“We transferred the case to the state CID for professional investigation, which we will also act on afterward.”

He noted that some students confessed that they were forcefully initiated. “That some were forcefully initiated speaks volume about us. The school does not condone that and it’s not cultism friendly.”

“OAU has zero tolerance for cultism, exam malpractices, sexual harassment and any other thing that can constitute a breach of matriculation oath to our students, he added.

Mr Olanrewaju also confirmed that some steps are being taken to apprehend some other suspects.