OLUWAFEMI Alawumi was a tiger. A notorious cultist, serial killer and suspected armed robber who belonged to Aye cult, he tore through Ijebu-Ode, Ijebu Igbo, Sagamu, Ogbere axes where he operated, mauling many to death. Popularly known as Femi Kuti and Badoo, he was brutal and unforgiving. Any time a rival cult, Eiye, touched his cult member, he made sure they paid back with many lives. As the hit man, a greater number of his victims fell from his hands between 2013 and 2014.
The rate at which he operated raised so much concern that the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye, had to ask the Officer in charge of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Mohammed Tijani to relocate to Ijebu axis to fish out Femi Kuti and his ilk. Their efforts at tracking him paid off on Monday, October 6, 2014 during Ojude Oba festival in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State.
Speaking with Crime Reports when the suspect was paraded on Thursday, October 9, CP Okoye said the SARS also received information that the cultists would strike during Ojude Oba festival, prompting the operatives to move to the venue to prevent any mishap. Fortunately, they sighted Femi Kuti and his gang members occupying four tents opposite a local government secretariat, drinking, smoking skunk and dancing.
As the police marked him out and wanted to pick him, his members revolted and started firing and stoning, determined that their hit man would not be taken away. But Kuti was subdued and in the process, he sustained gunshot injuries while others fled in different directions. Crime Reports interviewed the suspect. Below are the excerpts:
“I am Oluwafemi Alawumi. I am from Okuku in Osun State. I belong to Black Axe cult popularly called Aye. I am called Femi Kuti because of the way I escaped at different times when cult rivals in Eiye Confraternity wanted to kill me. They also refer to me as Badoo. I have two children. I was living in Ijebu Ode but have relocated to Ikorodu. I was selling planks but when clashes between the two cult groups became fierce, I left the business and started selling skunk.
“I was smoking Indian hemp but changed to skunk when I started selling it. I used to get the stuff from Mushin, Lagos.
“I joined Aye cult in 2006 through one Ahmed, who was a student of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye. Ahmed died during one of the cult clashes. I was taken into a bush at OOU, in the midnight. After cutting my thumb, a piece of kola was placed on the bleeding thumb and was put in my mouth with the thumb. I was made to swear to an oath that I would not betray the group. My eyes were covered and I was given serious beating, after which I was named Skippo. We were many that day.
“I started killing in 2010. What happened was that Eiye cult members killed one of us and on the matriculation day in Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), one of them came. We attacked him by stabbing him severally and he later died in the hospital. I was later arrested where I was smoking Indian hemp. I was arrested with a gun and that of my member who dropped his gun and ran away.
“I was charged to court and remanded in prison where I was for 15 months before DPP advice came. I was granted bail. The court later struck out the case.
“After leaving prison, I intended to quit the cult but the rival group members were after me. I escaped about three times and they killed those who were with me. This made me to resolve to continue. The cult clash was always happening between us. It had become a game and we believed that the group with the highest number of those killed is superior. This was hammered into our ears during initiation. So, if they kill one of us, we would retaliate with a higher number.
“I never went to any herbalist for charms. My grandfather was a herbalist and I knew how to prepare the charms that I needed. Despite the charms, I knew God was with me because He was helping me to escape from death. I used to call on God’s name each time I was preparing the charms, asking Him to make them potent. I did charms as bullet proof, for respect and to prevent machete cuts from showing on my body.
“The bullet proof charm had always worked for me except the police bullets which penetrated my leg. I don’t have charms for blade cuts; that was why I was injured when blade was used on me. The number of killings I was involved in was five but my cult members have killed many. I don’t know the number.
“We are well known by elders in our community and whenever there was cult clash, they would invite our leader. He would then appeal to us to cease fire. I have attained the position of an elder in the cult group. We (the elders) used to meet to ‘reason’ together.
“We have four guns we were using during clashes. We used to collect them from Number 1 (leader). My own gun was seized by the police in 2010. Usually, I would be the one to first ‘light’ (shoot) our target. Others might do theirs, depending on how close we are to the member whose death we were avenging.
“We don’t attack during Ojude Oba festival alone. We strike anytime there was clash between the two
groups
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