Man drowns while escaping cultists who forcefully initiate Estate residents in Lagos

A 20-year-old laborer identified as Sunday has drowned
while trying to escape being initiated by cultists in Lake View
estate, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos.
The cultist gang known as Icelander Confraternity have
reportedly been terrorizing the neighborhood for a while,
grabbing young men and forcing them into getting initiated
into the cult. Young men who refuse to be initiated are
reportedly told to leave the estate or face death.
On one of such nights, on Sunday, the cultists reportedly
stormed the estate and grabbed some young men, leading
them to the waterside. The deceased and his friend, Alabi,
were one of those taken. At the scene, a member of the gang
called Tunde intimidated the victims with a gun, threatening
to shoot them if they refused to get initiated. Sunday was
adamant and he was pushed by one of the members of the
gang, causing him to jump into the river where he drowned.
Alabi took advantage of the commotion caused by the death
of his friend to escape and he returned to the estate to alert
them of what transpired and they, in turn, alerted the police.
When the police from the Festac division arrived, the
bloated body of Sunday which was found floating on the
water surface was retrieved but his family refused to hand
him over for an autopsy and revealed they intend to bury
him by the river.
The police have combed the entire neighborhood for the
gang members who fled the scene immediately after the
initiation backfired, but so far, none of them have been
found.
Residents narrated their ordeal in the hands of the cultists
who have been terrorizing them, revealing that most
families have had to send their sons away from the
neighborhood to save them from initiation. The cult group
reportedly parade themselves as members of the OPC.
According to Vanguard, Sunday and Alabi became targets for
the gang after two of their friends gave in and joined. This
led the gang to begin targeting the others in Sunday’s circle.
A resident Spoke on the events leading up to the attack and
the attack itself, saying;
“Few days before Sunday’s demise, they (cultists) came to
where Sunday and his friends were and ordered them to
stand up and follow them. They obeyed but someone
intervened on their behalf and they were allowed to go. But
when they came back on Monday, there was no body to
intervene for them. They took Sunday and Alabi straight to
the waterside where they started beating them.
“We were told that when Sunday jumped into the river, the
cultists were still hauling stones at him, instead of helping
him out. They watched him drown. But for Alabi’s decision to
escape, he would have been shot dead because he said
Tunde asked them to say their last prayer since they refused
to voluntarily join Icelander.