Ekiti monarch decries arrests of subjects by police for alleged cultism

A traditional ruler in Ekiti State, the Owa Ilogbo of Ilogbo Ekiti in Ido-Osi local government area, Oba Edward Oke Ajayi, has petitioned Governor Kayode Fayemi over indiscriminate arrest of his subjects by the police for what he called ‘trumped up’ allegation of membership of secret cult.

Oba Ajayi, in a petition dated October 28 and personally signed by him, urged the governor to intervene in the crisis that broke out among some youths culminating in the death of a man identified as Bolu Adeleye.

The monarch added that Fayemi should also warn the police in the Ido Ekiti division of the state command to stop clamping his subjects into detention over ‘unfounded’ allegation of being members of secret cult, saying over 15 youths are currently being detained at the police headquarters in spite of no verifiable evidence linking them to cultism.

Some youths had on October 21, besieged the palace at Ilogbo and vandalized the building, destroying some vehicles owing to allegation that some youths who fought in the community and suspected to be cultists were being kept in the palace.

He described as a blatant lie, the position canvassed by the complainants and a faction in the crisis: Kayode Omojola, Gbenga Omojola, Femi Olabamija and one Apiaka, that he was using his palace to shield a group of youths belonging to a dreaded secret cult.