Jplum: The Notorious Cultist Too Hot For Nigeria Police

Residents of Fadeyi, Shomolu and Bariga areas of Lagos state are now living in fear.

They are being terrorized by a cultist, Femi Akinboyeku, a.k.a. Jplum, who is the leader of the Eiye Confraternity.

And the police, whose duty it is to protect the people from criminals have confessed that he is too hot for them to handle.

Jplum was alleged to have masterminded several gang wars and cult-related killings in parts of Lagos State including the April 10, 2019 killing of a dispatch rider by Jplum’s men at Fadeyi Bus stop, on Ikorodu Expressway, during a gang-related clash.

One of the most touching incidents was the case of a 57-year-old woman, Shade Raji, who was chased out of her home located at No 7, Adelere Street, Shomolu and her house later demolished by Jplum.

Raji, who is a cleaner working for the Lagos State Government, told Vanguard that her family ran into Jplum’s trouble when one of her sons, who is a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, had a clash with him and he ordered him to leave the area.

Not done with that, Raji said Jplum also ordered her sick husband, her daughter, grandchildren and herself out of their house.

She said, Jplum accused them of giving out information about his activities within their area to their son and on December 17, 2018, Jplum chased out all the tenants living in their 16-room apartment, before pulling down the building.

Raji explained further that what was most painful to he was that the police refused to apprehend Jplum even after reporting the incident at Onipanu Police Division and the Area H Police Command Ogudu.

She said she was told by the policemen at these stations that Jplum is very powerful and well connected and cannot be arrested by their Divisions.

She added that she wrote a petition to the Lagos State Attorney General’s office and a letter of invitation was sent to Jlump from the Land Grabbing office but he didn’t honour it.

Narrating her ordeal, Raji, who is a native of Ikorodu Town said; “I am a cleaner, working for Lagos State, I am part of the team sweeping the expressway. I am married to Billi Aminu Raji, who is the owner of the building at No. 7 Adelere Street, Shomolu. My trouble started two years ago when my son came to me and said that Jplum who is the head of all the thugs and cultists have chased him out of his place of work at Jibowu and I told him to leave the job, that God will give him another one.

“On May 13, 2017, my son and I were in front of our house talking when Jplum came with his men and asked my son to leave my house and never to return to our area, where he was born or he will kill him. My son left quietly and out of fear I couldn’t talk to him.”

“These threats against my life and that of my family continued until August of that same year when five boys came to my house with guns and took my husband to Jplum’s office and they forced my sick husband to do a video calling my son a thief which was posted on Facebook.

“We then wrote a petition against these threats from Femi Jplum to the police at Zone 2 Command Onikan, and the police promised to have him arrested but they didn’t.

“His office was however raided and two pistols were recovered, while two of his boys who were part of the group that kidnapped my husband were arrested but they were later released without being charged to court.

“The police didn’t even bother to look for Jplum again as Zone 2 Police Command released all of them. I then took people in my community to him and we started begging him but he refused.

“On February 11, 2018, Jplum led his boys who were all armed to my house, dragged me out of the house and Jplum told me that he didn’t want me to stay in my husband’s house anymore and he didn’t want me to be in that area again because he felt that I was the one giving out information about his activities to my son.

“But I told him that I only went to the police because his threats against my life and that of my family were too much to leave unreported, then he ordered his boys to beat me, dragged me completely out of our area and they vowed to kill me if I stepped my foot again in that area.

“I then took my grandchildren with me and we started squatting with one of my friends. I took up street sweeping job from the Lagos State Government so I can fend for my grandchildren, we were so helpless, nobody could fight for us and there was no one we could run to. Everyone is scared of Jplum.

“My sick husband was also thrown out of his house by this thug and he went squatting with his brother in Abule Egba. On December 15, 2018, we took him to General hospital Ikeja, for treatment but while we were at the hospital, we got the news that Femi Jplum had chased away all the tenants in our house.

“We learned that he also brought a carpenter, living within our area, known as Baba Lanre and ordered him to remove the roof on our building and the windows. Our tenants told us that all their property were all thrown away and two days later, we got news again that Jplum and his boys had commenced demolition of our house.

“When we left the hospital, I went to our house and I had a meeting with some of our tenants to know what actually happened, Jplum got news that I was around, he then sent his boys after me and chased me out of the area. We couldn’t carry any of our property.”

“Then, we went to report what was happening at the police station, Onipanu but the policemen told us that they could not handle the matter because Femi Jplum is a very powerful person and they referred us to Area H command Ogudu.

“When I got there, I was taken to a senior police officer and after narrating everything to him, he told me that they could not handle the case saying Jplum is a very powerful person. He then advised me to write a petition to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti-Yaba, Lagos.

“I became confused and I wondered how a tout and cultist could be so powerful that the police can not deal with him for committing brazen crimes. I then went to a human right organization at Yaba and pleaded for their assistance, they advised me to go to the Land Grabbing department at the office of the Attorney General of Lagos State.

“I went there, made my case before them and they invited Femi Jplum twice but he refused to honour their invitation and they gave me a letter asking the Area Commander of Area H to arrest Femi Jplum and bring him to them and all the boys involved, yet the police refused to act.

“Luckily, I accosted the carpenter who removed our roof on the road and I held him and called the police, he was arrested and taken to the police station. While at the police station, he confessed that it was Femi Jplum and his boys who ordered him to remove the roof of our house before it was demolished. The police ended their investigation at his level and they released him without going after the people who ordered him to do such job.

“As I speak with you all the gates leading to our house have been locked and Femi and his boys are always standing there to prevent any stranger from gaining entrance into our house so that they would not be unable to see the level of destruction he has done to our property.

“I am calling on the Inspector General of Police, Assistant Inspector General of Police in Charge of Zone 2 and the commissioner of police in Lagos State to come to our aid and end the tyranny of this man called Jplum.” She pleaded