An Ilorin Magistrate Court on Friday ordered that two suspected cultists be remanded at the Federal Prison, Ilorin, pending the next hearing. The accused, Olaniyan Michael Kehinde, 22, and Ifekoya Tosin Tomiwa, 26, were arraigned in court over illegal possession of arms, criminal conspiracy, and membership of a secret cult. However, the plea of the accused was not taken for lack of jurisdiction.

The offences, according to Magistrate Ibijoke Olawoyin, contravene Sections 97 of Penal Code and the Kwara State legal note No. 3 of 2010. According to the First Information Report, one of the accused, Olaniyan Michael Kehinde, was arrested by vigilante men at a party in Elekoyangan ,Idi-ori area of Ilorin, with a local pistol containing one live cartridge. While Ifekoya Tosin Tomiwa was arrested based on the confession by Olaniyan Michael, it was gathered. The prosecutor, Alhassan Jubril, told the court that Ifekoya Tomiwa confessed to have purchased the gun from someone in a polytechnic in Ogun State, for protection against rival cult members.

He said the police investigation revealed that the accused and other person still at large are members of the Eiye confraternity, and that Ifekoya Tosin Tomiwa is the number three person in the cult’s hierarchy in one of the institutions in the state. He said the offences are not ordinarily bailable, and urged the court to remand the accused in prison. But counsel to the accused, Francis Ugwarea, argued that the offences are bailable, and that bail is at the discretion of the court.

He then applied for the bail of the accused. The magistrate however refused the bail, and adjourned the matter to August 1.