I Take Responsibility For The Killing Of 34 Colleagues – Ex-Cult Leader (Photo)

29- year- old Levi Imoter was a notorious cultist for over 10 years.

He engaged in the worst crimes imaginable, including armed robbery, and operated from Benue, through Bauchi to Borno. In this encounter, he recounts how he led many university undergraduates into cultism and armed robbery; his waterloo during a robbery operation in Maiduguri; life in prison and how his death sentence was reversed through divine intervention. He says he would spend the rest of his life preaching the mercy and love of God through Jesus Christ who delivered him from the jaws of death. He is the brain behind Renewed Mind Foundation International. Excerpts: How did you begin the journey into cultism? I was in JS.S 3 in 2002 at the Federal Government College, Vandeikya, Benue State. At the time I was initiated, I never knew that I was entering into cultism. Those days, we used to break bounds. We would scale the school fence. I was actually initiated during the period known as “mock extension”, where JSS 3 and SSS 3 students would stay back in school. I was initiated by my seniors. They loved me, always took me out and bought me drinks and cigarettes. I was introduced to partying. On one occasion, they took me to a party and, from the venue, somewhere in the bush. What happened thereafter? I was taken there alongside 14 other students for the initiation rites and I met 14 other students. The initiators stripped me to my boxers. The initiation held between 9:30pm and 4am. we went through a series of torture. In fact, one of my friends became deaf while the other had a broken leg due to the manner in which they dealt with us. Subsequently, we began to meet within the school premises for lessons on the cult codes and language. Our meeting point could be in the hostel and sometimes in the orchard. We had supervisors who our were not students; they came from higher institutions. There were times they even slept in our hostels. Were you ever caught? On several occasions I was caught. In fact, after I was caught with arms, I was expelled in SSS 2. That was the fourth time I would be caught and what happened in this case was that I was fighting some members of a rival cult group because of a girl. Our own cult was named Black Skull. I should have been expelled after my second suspension but, because of my academic brilliance, the school would normally give me another chance and, at a point, even made me a prefect with the hope that I would change from my evil ways. After I was expelled, I went to the College of Advanced and Professional Studies in Makurdi, Benue State for my Interim Joint Matriculation Board IJMB. It was here that I decided to join the cult group having been a member of Black Skull way back in secondary school. My initiation into the was not done in Benue because they had done theirs before I got admission into the school. So, since I earnestly wanted to join, I had to be taken to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University ATBU, Bauchi where the men were having their initiation. At ATBU, we had brutal and hardened criminals as members. The initiation process was more tedious. What is the essence of the torture during initiation rites? It was done in such a way so as to make us develop a thick skin so that when you are caught by the police, no matter the level of torture, you would still be able to keep the cult’s code. I got so wild that I rose through the ranks rapidly and even became the leader of those who initiated me. What was the motivation? Why were you attracted to cultism? Love of supremacy over others. Then there was the spirit of camaraderie. Although, I came from a very loving family with a Christian background, I just wanted independence. Even politicians came to be initiated. I was one of those who initiated a former governor of one of the states. We also had a lot of members among security agencies. Once, I was to be arrested, and a policeman called to alert me and that was how I escaped arrest that day. Wer