We kill rivals, cut off their hands for rituals — self-confessed cultist

 

A self-confessed leader of  the Black Axe confraternity, otherwise called Aiye,   Saheed Taiwo, has given a chilling account of the cruel   fate rival cultists suffered in his group’s hand,   any time there was a clash in Ogun State.

Unlike other cult groups, 27-year-old   Taiwo said his group did not only kill rivals but they also cut off their hands and used them to prepare   protection charms. The severed hands according to him, were also used to prepare concoction   for his members against arrest by the Police.

 

But the potency of the charm became questionable as he was arrested alongside two other hit men in his confraternity, by   operatives of   the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team ,IRT ,headed   by   DCP Olatuniji Disu ,in the Abeokuta area of Ogun State.

Those arrested with   Taiwo   were :  Isaiah Babatunde and Oyede   Sulaimon. They were alleged to have killed   members of rival cult groups   within   Ita Oshin and neighboring communities in Ogun.  Crime Guard gathered that during the operation that led to the arrest of the trio, another notorious member of the group identified simply as Ben,   disappeared with one of the gang’s AK 47 rifles.

 

Taiwo , confessed to have joined the Aiye cult group in 2018, as a senior Secondary School 1   student, of Anglican High School, Ibara, Abeokuta.   He however dropped out of school in 2019. Between the period he joined and when he was arrested, he said he had lost count of the number of rival   cult members his group had killed.

According to him: “As an individual, I cannot tell you I have killed anyone. This is because we usually operate as a group. We have killed many people. I have lost count of the number. Anytime we were going for an operation, our leader would instruct us to ensure we kill as many as we could.

 

“We don’t just kill. We cut off their hands. The severed hands were taken to   a set of twins in the Ago Oka area of Isale Ogun, in Abeokuta. I met the tradition of delivering     severed hands to the twins . They are used for rituals, especially to prepare concoction that would protect us from   being killed by rituals and being arrested by the Police.”

Asked why the charm did not work for him and his colleagues, he cast a blank stare apparently wondering why, too.

 

Rivals killed                    

He mentioned names of rival cult members his group had killed and the circumstances under which the operation was carried out.Taiwo said: “Members of   my group   are  responsible for several killings in Ogun State. A particular case was   the killing of a leader of a rival cult group in the Ita Oluwo area of Abeokuta ,some months ago . He was called Tommy. But I was not among those that went for the operation.   Ben ,Dare, Killer ,Idris   and Aloma   did and they   went with a Pump Action Rifle.

“They went   on   motorbikes . They said they first   matcheted   Tommy before shooting him, to ensure he was dead.   He was one of the leaders of the Eiye group. All the cult killings were   reprisal attacks.

 “There was another   reprisal attack on the   Eiye group.     Eiye cult group killed a member of our group during the clash   and our leaders,   Dare and others, mandated   us to go and see what was happening there .When we got there ,we identified one of them .   Later we traced the identified Eiye member ,who was one of those who killed our, to Lafenwa and killed him.

“We also cut off one of his hands with our axe. We don’t call it axe in our group. We call it ‘ seven’   We took the hands to the twins   for the usual thing.” Continuing, Taiwo stated that “We have assorted arms and ammunitions .There is hardly any arm   you cannot find with our group   be they single or   double barrel guns, or AK 47 and many more.

“I was using a double barrel gun for operation. One of us , Rasqie , escaped   with it on the day we were arrested.”

The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Muyiwa Adejobi ,   assured that other fleeing members of the cult groups would be arrested and prosecuted, adding that   Taiwo and his colleagues would be charged to court.