The Ondo State Police Command has arrested a man described as a notorious cult leader, Akinwale Tomiwa, in connection with a string of alleged cult-related activities in Owo, headquarters of Owo Local Government Area.

Tomiwa, popularly known as Bella, is believed by investigators to be a key figure in the Eiye Confraternity said to be operating within Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, and surrounding communities. Police sources allege that he has long been on the command’s wanted list over violent clashes and targeted attacks linked to campus cultism.

Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abayomi Jimoh, said operatives of the Special Anti-Cultism Squad in Akure tracked and apprehended the suspect after receiving what he described as credible and actionable intelligence.

According to Jimoh, officers moved swiftly after information indicated that Tomiwa had been sighted around the NEPA Junction area of Akure. A team was immediately deployed to the location, where the suspect was reportedly arrested without resistance.

Preliminary investigations, the spokesperson explained, have connected Tomiwa to the killing of a Rufus Giwa Polytechnic student, identified as Ojo Peter, in Owo. The incident, believed to be cult-related, had heightened tension in the town and fuelled fears of an escalating supremacy battle between rival groups.

Police say further intelligence suggests the suspect recently appeared on a cult-linked social media platform, Naija Confra, where he was allegedly celebrated for participating in an attack on suspected members of the rival Aiye Confraternity along Fasawe Street in Owo.

That attack was reportedly part of a broader struggle for dominance between the two confraternities, a conflict that residents say has left many living in fear and has disrupted academic and social life around the polytechnic.

During the arrest operation, officers conducted a search on the suspect and recovered several items believed to be criminal charms, which investigators say are commonly used by cult members for protection, intimidation and to embolden them during violent operations.

Jimoh added that the command has intensified efforts to identify and track other suspected members of the syndicate. He assured residents of Owo and its environs that the police are committed to dismantling cult networks and restoring a sense of safety in the affected communities.