How We Were Initiated Into Cult As Junior Secondary School Pupils - Robbery Suspects Confess

Four robbery suspects who operate by disguising as taxi drivers are now in the net of the operatives of the inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IGP IRT), The Nation reports.

Nemesis allegedly caught up with Didi Jolly, Chisom Unegbu, Micheal Matthew and George Ala when the commander of the IGP IRT, Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), decided to lead a special team to smash the gang, following public outcry against their menace.

They were said to be in the habit of not only robbing their victims of money and valuable items like phones and ATM cards in Port Harcourt and its environs, but also subjecting them to serious torture as they often throw their victims off the moving vehicle.

A manhunt launched for the gang resulted in the arrest of Jolly, who was said to have led the IRT detectives to pick the three other members of the gang.

“They also detain their victims while they take their time to withdraw money from their accounts,” a police source said, adding that three of the suspects were all initiates of a cult group known as Icelanders while they were in junior secondary school.

In his confession, Jolly, a native of Obugbasa Local Government Area, Cross River State, said his parents were living in Port Harcourt where he and his siblings were born and bred.

He said: “I was a student of Maris Comprehensive Secondary School before I dropped out of school in my second year.

“It was very common among students to belong to one cult group or the other. The senior student that I took as my college father was the one who initiated me. I was 14 years at that time.

“During break time, he took me to an uncompleted building behind our school with the excuse that we were going to buy snacks.

“When we got there, he sent me to buy a bottle of Squadron, an alcoholic drink. When I came back, there were so many boys, especially our seniors.

“The next thing, they pulled my shirt and started beating me. After that, they forced me to drink from the alcohol.

“They then said I had become a member and failure to abide by their rules would result in death.

“I was afraid and wanted to tell my parents but they warned me against it.

“My mum is a religious woman and did her best to train us well. “In the streets, almost every boy child was a cultist, and my mother warned us that she would not tolerate it.

“I kept it as a secret till months later when about 50 boys who are members of our cult group visited my house at night.

“I was supposed to be on duty on that day, but because I was still living with my parents, there was no way I could sneak out.

“Normally, we take turns to watch over our area in case another rival cult decided to attack.

“They came and forced me to follow them and threatened to deal with my family members if they don’t allow me to work for them.

“I can remember so well how my mother wept the night they dragged me away.

“When I returned in the morning, she told me that they had decided to relocate to Cross River State, and that I should come along. I refused and everyone left, including my father and my twin brother.

“I managed to hang around school for a year before I dropped out, because I was homeless and was only struggling to survive.

“I became active, and it is normal for cult members to go and snatch bags and phones.

“I normally attend meetings at Okirika town till we were scattered in 2009 when the Federal Government offered amnesty.

“I was not lucky and we all scattered and only met in secret.

Things were tough for me till I met one Gbongbon who allowed me to live in his room. He was the one who introduced me to robbery.

“Lately, we have concentrated on using cars to rob people. One of us will carry the car, pretend to be a taxi driver and pick one or two persons.

“We will also board the same car and rob them. We would sell their phones at Yam Zone at Creek Road in Port Harcourt.

“We do not collect I phone because it has an iCloud. We sell the most expensive one for about N10,000 or at most N15,000.”