From Lateef Dada, Osogbo

Osun State Police Command yesterday said it has arrested a suspected cultist, Rasheed Hammed (aka Baale Oko-ilu).

It was gathered that the suspected cultist, who had been declared wanted in March this year, was arrested by men of the anti-cultism unit of the state police command, on Saturday.

The suspect was declared wanted for alleged involvement in the killing and threatening of people in Ede, the hometown of the Osun state governor-elect, Ademola Adeleke. He was also wanted for alleged complicity in crimes such as murder, arson, ritual killing and armed robbery.

When contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Yemisi Opalola, confirmed the arrest of the suspect.

Responding to the message sent to him for the confirmation of the arrest of the suspect, Opalola replied, “yes, yesterday night (Saturday).”

The suspect, in one of his audios released on social media, had accused the Timi of Ede, Oba Munirudeen Adesola Lawal, of sponsoring an officer of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), popularly called Eluku, and some members of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) to kill him and his family.

He explained how the SARS and the OPC killed his three brothers and made several attempts to kill him. But the monarch denied knowing him, describing all his allegations against him as lies.

“I want to say, for the umpteenth time, that I don’t have any group or killer squad commissioned to kill anyone. Why would I want to kill any of my subjects?

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Meanwhile, the Osun state Commissioner of Police, Olawale Olokode, yesterday ordered the immediate disbandment of his surveillance squad, over unprofessional conduct of the officers.

A statement by the spokesperson of the police command, Yemisi Opalola, yesterday, said the dissolution was necessitated by the complaints of unprofessional conduct exhibited by the personnel of the squad.

The statement reads: “The dissolution is with immediate effect, and all personnel attached to the squad are to report to the State Headquarters for redeployment, while investigation has commenced at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID).

“The CP is using this medium to state that this will serve as a deterrent to other tactical squads in the command, as the command, under his watch, will not tolerate or condone any act that is unbecoming of a police officer.

“The public is, hereby, enjoined to rekindle their trust in the police, as the command is committed to giving them improved policing services that will stand the test of time.”

A leader of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Superintendent Omoyele, had been accused of killing two people, including a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ede, the hometown of the Osun governor-elect, on Friday.

The killing led to the destruction of properties and caused political violence in the community.

Findings showed that Omoyele was not supposed to be in Ede, according to the official routine, and this infuriated the Commissioner of Police who ordered the dissolution of the squad. However, the police are still keeping mum over the whereabouts of Omoyele since the incident happened.