Segun Atanda/
The police in Lagos have got about 120 youths to renounce cultism in Ikorodu area of the state, where a mysterious mafia has been using pestle as murder weapon to wipe out several families in the vicinity.
Known as Badoo Cult, the gang would always leave its bloody signature of crushed heads mopped with white piece of cloth at the crime scene.
According to the police, those who renounced membership of different rival cult groups and surrendered their weapons at Imota, in Ikorodu, were up to 120 on Wednesday.
Addressing the allegedly repentant cultists, Lagos State commissioner of police (CP), Imohimi Edgal said that their voluntary renouncement would be accompanied by vocational training to enable them acquire new skills.
He said, “When I assumed duty as Commissioner of Police in Lagos, I discovered that cultism and drug abuse are the most challenging crimes.
“The important thing is that the processes, whereby youths are now willingly renouncing cultism to take up vocational skills have started.
“The vocational job is to be instituted by the council chairman, the lawmaker and other stakeholders in Imota.
“We want a 24-hour economic and nightlife in Lagos.”
The paramount ruler of Imota, Oba Ajibade Agoro, urged youths in the community to renounce cultism and embrace peace, adding that without peace there cannot be development.
The monarch said that he would use traditional ancestral means to make the repented cultists swear an oath not to return to cultism.
“People cannot be living in fear and contribute immensely to the development of the community,” said the royal father.
Mr Nurudeen Solaja, the lawmaker representing Ikorodu 2 Constituency in the Lagos State House of Assembly, said that the renouncement was a welcome development.
Solaja said he would join hands with other stakeholders to ensure that the repented cultists were re-integrated into the community.
His words: “We will train those cultists who willingly renounced their membership to become better individuals.
“Most of these cultists are artisans who don’t have an idea of how or what cultism is all about; we want to make sure that peace returns to Imota community which is my constituency.”
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