…It’s a frame-up — his father

An Ogudu, Lagos, magistrate court will on August 20, 2018 continue hearing in a two-count charge of felony and unlawful association against a 32-year-old graduate of History and Strategic Studies of the University of Lagos, Ayo Lekan Ayandibu.

The police alleged that Ayandibu, together with Yusuf Adeniran and Sulaiman Razak with whom he was charged, were cult members of a dreaded cult group in Lagos, the Aiye Confraternity.

The Anti-Cultism Squad of the Nigeria Police arrested Ayandibu by 12pm on Sunday July 22, 2018 at Alagbado, Lagos, after the police said they got a report from the area’s landlord association that hoodlums were terrorising the residents.

Ayandibu, however, maintained he was innocent and was actually coming from church when the police arrested him.

His father, Mr Olusegun Ayandibu, backed him, alleging that on Tuesday when he went to see his son in police custody, a police officer had demanded a sum of money to effect his release. He added he refused to give in because “my son has not committed any offence.”

He added that the police ignored a recommendation letter dated July 23, 2018 signed by the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Ward F, Agbado Oke-Odo, LCDA, Hon. Ahmed Mukaila and General Secretary, Princess Adeleye Adepeju and addressed to the divisional police officer at the Gbagada Anti-Cultism division. The letter, a copy of which Daily Trust saw in court, vouched for the “integrity and reliability” of Ayandibu and Adeniran.

Ayandibu’s counsel, Barrister Jones Edet, applied for bail for the accused on the ground that the police had not provided any evidence to keep him in police custody.

He was granted bail on a sum of N50,000, with the condition that a relation, who must produce three years tax certificate clearance, stand surety for him.