Olaleye Aluko
The Lagos State Police Command on Wednesday paraded a self-confessed leader of the Eiye Confraternity, Ibrahim Balogun, aka Small Jpron, for allegedly killing five persons during different cult wars.
PUNCH Metro learnt that 29-year-old Small Jpron was arrested on Saturday by detectives attached to the Alade Police Division on Apata Street in the Somolu area of the state.
It was gathered that Small Jpron was arrested after some suspected cultists attacked the area on Saturday and the suspect came out with his boys for a reprisal.
Our correspondent gathered that Small Jpron allegedly organised a gang which set a house ablaze in January 2016 on Oshinfolarin Street, Bariga, during which a 65-year-old woman, Adejoke Adefuye, was burnt to death.
A police source told our correspondent that Small Jpron had been declared wanted for five murder cases in the Somolu and Bariga areas in 2016.
Speaking while being paraded at the command headquarters, Ikeja, on Wednesday, the suspect said he joined the cult to avenge the murder of his friend in 2009 by suspected Aye Confraternity members.
He said, “I am an Eiye cult leader. I joined the cult in 2009. The reason for my joining was to avenge the death of a close friend, Sunday Folorunsho, aka Small Biscuits.
“It was the Aye cult members who killed him. So, the Eiye faction approached me and said I should join them and they would help me fish out the people who killed my friend. I had a lot of boys working for me. I have killed three persons among whom were FemiWiper and Lekan Akon.
“I cut them with knives. I shot some other victims. They were killed in the Somolu and Bariga areas. It was in the evening thatFemi Wiperwas killed. We were going out for a carnival during the Easter period on Alade Street in the Somolu area when a fight broke out. He was the one who first pointed a gun at me and my boys hacked him to death.”
The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said Small Jpron had been declared wanted by the police for multiple cases of murder.
He added that the suspect was an ex-convict.
He said, “Earlier this year, there were major cult clashes, where criminal elements in the Somolu and Bariga areas engaged one another in a war of supremacy culminating in the deaths of some persons.
“The gang, led by Small Jpron, also set ablaze a house in the Pedro area in which an elderly woman was burnt to death. The suspect was the one who led the cult gang war. He is a known criminal in the Somolu area.
“He has multiple cases of murder and armed robbery which he has confessed to. Through him, we will look for other members of the gang who turned Pedro and Somolu areas into theatres of war.”
– PUNCH
