The Lagos State Police Command has invited a caretaker accused of forcefully initiating two undergraduates of the Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH) into cultism.
The two victims, who had abandoned their studies at the institution, said their lives had been under threat after going public about being initiated against their will.
The caretaker, identified as Ramadan, however, denied knowledge of the incident, but the students insisted he was behind their ordeal.
One of the undergraduates said they were on their way back to their hostel when Ramadan called them for a notorious cultist, who took them to the initiation ground.
The victim also noted that Ramadan met them at the initiation ground and cautioned them against informing anyone about the incident.
“I don’t want to die; I can’t go back to school; my colleague and I were told not to tell anybody what happened when we were initiated against our will. It was a caretaker, Ramadan, that called us for the cultists,” he said.
Ebun, the mother of one of the victims, said she officially reported the case to the school and the police authorities on Monday.
“My son said he does not want to die and that he can’t go back to school. We pleaded with their friends to help us bring their loads from their rooms to the park. I and a relative of the other boy reported to the school and the police. The school authorities assured us of their safety if they returned to continue their studies, but they said they can’t.
“I can only pray God helps neutralise what they gave them to eat during the initiation. We will continue to encourage them. My son will continue his studies somewhere else; Ramadan and his cohorts are responsible for their exit from Laspotech,” Ebun added.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, said Ramadan had been questioned by the police, adding that he alongside the parents and the undergraduates would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, for further investigation.
He said, “The DPO confirmed that the accused, Ramadan, has been invited and he has shown up. He denied the allegation during interrogation, but investigation is ongoing.”
Earlier, the woman, while demanding a probe of the incident, said the undergraduate was also traumatised by what he suffered in the hands of the suspects last Saturday.
She said, “My son has been sick; he is still scared about the incident and what they gave him to eat, but we are praying about it.
“I and the family members of my son’s colleague will be visiting the school together. We want justice.
“My child said he can no longer go to school; will the school give him a certificate? If he cannot get a certificate, I am appealing to Nigerians to support me financially so my son can secure admission to another school to further his education.
“I am a single mother and it was not easy for me to pay for his school fees and allowance. He has abandoned the one I struggled to pay for because of what the cultists did to him.”
The two undergraduates, who lived together in a hostel in the First Gate area of Ikorodu, went to charge their phones at a neighbour’s house close to their hostel.
On their way back, a caretaker, identified only as Ramadan, who was with a suspected cultist, beckoned on them.
Ramadan allegedly abandoned them in the hands of the cultist, who instructed them to follow him to a house where they were forcefully initiated.
“The cultists started beating and slapping us; they ordered us to kneel and we became scared. Later on, the older man forcefully gave us something to eat and after we ate it, he poured alcohol into his mouth and spat in our eyes. It was so painful that we screamed for help, but there was no one to help.
“They later told us to open our eyes and when we opened them and no longer felt the pain of the alcohol, they started saying we were now Eiye cultists.
“They said we should no longer be afraid and that if anyone did anything to us, we should let them know. The caretaker later met us there,” one of the victims said.
