On Sunday, Ogun State Police command officers detained six suspected Eiye cult members as they attempted to assassinate a traditional ruler at his palace.
The accused included Michael Ayodele, Monday Samuel, Ademola Matthew, Hammed Jelili, Ogundele Ojeh, and Sunkanmi Fadina, according to a statement from the command's public relations officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi.
According to Oyeyemi, the suspects were detained as a result of a distress call that the Oba of Gbokoto land, Oba G.O. Olukunle in Yewa South local government, made at around 4:25 pm, claiming that several cultists were planning to murder him in his palace.
“Upon the distress call, the DPO Oja- Odan division, mobilized his men and moved to the palace, where they met the hoodlums shooting sporadically within the palace”.
“The policemen engaged them in shootout and eventually subdued the cultists and got six amongst them arrested”, the PPRO said.
“On interrogation, the arrested suspects confessed been members of the dreaded Eiye confraternity. They also informed the police that, it was the son of the Oba who is now at large that invited them to come and eliminate his father because of an unresolved issue the Oba has been having with his mother”.
Items recovered from them included one locally made double barrel pistol, two live cartridges and one expended cartridge.
Oyeyemi added that the son of the Oba who has taken to flight was said to have escaped with another gun belonging to the group.
Meanwhile, the State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to State Criminal Investigation Departments for discreet investigation with the view to charge them to court on the conclusion of the investigation.
The CP also ordered a massive manhunt for the fleeing son of the Oba in order to bring him to justice.