The incident in Igboho town in Oyo State, where a group of secret cult members allegedly set a vehicle and a shop on fire due to the refusal of their deceased leader’s son, known as Rasheed Dimeji, to take over the cult leadership position, has caused widespread concern in the town.
Trouble began immediately after the passing of the secret cult society’s spiritual leader, Pa Ismail, which left a vacancy in the leadership of the group.
As per the tradition of the secret cult society, the vacant leadership role should be assumed by the surviving son of the late leader, Mr. Rasheed Dimeji.
However, Mr. Rasheed has declined to accept the role and has consequently left the town for an undisclosed location due to safety concerns. Despite the secret cult group’s efforts to find him and forcibly appoint him as their next leader, they have been unsuccessful.
The members of the secret cult are angered by what they see as a disregard for their longstanding tradition.
They believe that Rasheed’s mother knows his whereabouts but has chosen not to share this information with them. As a result, they have mistreated the elderly and impoverished widow in various ways, including setting fire to the family’s vehicle.
The poor old widow, whilst recounting her ordeal, identified herself as Mrs. Muslimat and the mother of Dimeji.
“I suspected the secret cult members from Igboho to be responsible for setting ablaze the vehicle after they had earlier burnt down my shop this year,” she stated.
When asked why the group was targeting the family and their property, she said:
“Because my son refused to be their next leader. They vowed that they would do everything possible to bring him home to be installed as their leader.
“Though, before his father died, he told him that in line with the family tradition, he would succeed him as the spiritual leader of a secret cult society in Igboho; he told him this to prepare him ahead of time but he immediately refused to be part of any secret cult society based on his religious ideology.
“Several times, the cult members would invite him to meetings, but he would not honour the invitations. So eventually, when his father passed on, he left the town when the cult members insisted he must be installed as their leader.”
“I did my best and appealed to him to accept the tradition, but he refused,” added the widow.
She further noted that they had also refused to install another person to the leadership stool, stating that the cult members insisted Mr. Rasheed Dimeji must take the leadership of the secret cult.
The matter, according to Mrs Ismail is presently been investigated by Police operatives in the area.
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