Forty-one-year-old Billy Oyiza, a former cultist who claimed to have killed three rivals in pursuit of promotion and indirectly caused his father\u2019s death, has finally reunited with his mother and siblings in a deeply emotional moment, just days after regaining freedom from the Kirikiri Correctional Centre, Lagos.<\/p>\n
After\u00a0seven years behind bars, Billy Oyiza finally returned to his hometown, Ankpa, in Kogi State, where he tearfully reunited with his mother and siblings.<\/p>\n
At exactly 8:02pm, Oyiza boarded an 18-seater Young Shall Grow<\/strong> Hummer bus at Festac First Gate, Old Ojo Road, Lagos, bound for Ankpa, a journey that would mark the beginning of his reconciliation with the family he had once shattered.<\/p>\n He sat quietly in seat number 13, dressed in a blue flowing jalabia and clutching a small Bible, which was a gift from a church that had supported his rehabilitation and reintegration into society.<\/p>\n It was a striking sight: a man once feared for his ruthlessness, now subdued and uncertain, his eyes distant as though weighed down by memories of his past.<\/p>\n The journey ahead was more than a trip home; it was a pilgrimage of remorse, redemption, and the longing for forgiveness.<\/p>\n As the bus rumbled along the familiar yet distant road to his hometown, Oyiza sat in silence, his thoughts a storm of regret. Every turn of the wheel seemed to drag him deeper into the burden of his guilt.<\/p>\n He later said that the journey was emotionally draining and torturous, as memories he could neither escape nor silence flooded his mind.<\/p>\n \u201cI was restless throughout the journey, gripped by fear and guilt,\u201d he recalled softly, his voice heavy with remorse. \u201cI didn\u2019t know how to face my mother. I made her a widow. I destroyed my home. What if she rejects me? What if she collapses like my father did in court?\u201d<\/p>\n Each question hung in the air like a sentence yet to be served, a reminder that though he had left prison behind, freedom from his past was still a long way off.<\/p>\n In the\u00a0Sunday PUNCH\u00a0interview titled \u201cShocking Confession of an Ex-Cultist: I Killed Three Rivals for Promotion, Caused My Father\u2019s Death,\u201d Oyiza recounted how his thirst for power and respect drew him into the world of cultism.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I got to Lagos State University, I joined a cult willingly. Nobody forced me. I thought it was the fastest way to gain power and influence,\u201d he had said.<\/p>\n By his second year, he had become a pilot \u2014 an enforcer feared for his ruthlessness. But his meteoric rise soon ended in tragedy.<\/p>\n In 2018, a violent clash between rival groups, Aiye and Vikings, left several people dead. Seeking revenge and promotion, Oyiza killed a neighbour he later discovered was a member of the rival cult.<\/p>\n \u201cThat day changed my life forever,\u201d he said, full of remorse. \u201cI pulled the trigger without thinking. When I realised what I had done, it was too late. The police came almost immediately. I was arrested and charged with murder.\u201d<\/p>\n During his arraignment, his parents were in court, silently weeping as the charges were read. But when the word \u201cmurder\u201d echoed through the courtroom, his father clutched his chest, slumped, and never rose again.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw him fall from the dock. They rushed him to the hospital, but he was gone before they got there,\u201d Oyiza recalled, his voice trembling. \u201cMy father died because of my actions. I became the man who killed and made my mother a widow.\u201d<\/p>\n When he was released from the Kirikiri Correctional Centre in the first week of October 2025, Oyiza walked out a changed man, no longer the brash, power-hungry cultist he once was, but a broken soul seeking forgiveness and redemption.<\/p>\n \u201cThe journey home was torturous,\u201d he told\u00a0Sunday PUNCH. \u201cI couldn\u2019t sleep. While others snored, I kept wondering about the possible outcome of my homecoming. It was the longest journey of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n When the bus finally pulled into Ankpa, the weight of his past pressed heavily on his shoulders. He stepped down slowly, scanning the familiar streets and faces, some curious, some fearful. It was clear that while Oyiza had left prison, he was only just beginning the harder journey, the one toward acceptance and peace.<\/p>\n Emotional reunion<\/strong><\/p>\n For his mother, the reunion was both tearful and heart-wrenching. For years, she had believed her son was lost forever, the same son whose actions had taken her husband\u2019s life.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I got home, I learnt she had gone to the farm that morning,\u201d Oyiza said. \u201cSo I waited, rehearsing how to apologise. The house hadn\u2019t changed much. Nothing had improved because my father was gone. My mother now farms to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n According to him, when his mother finally returned and saw him, she stood motionless, her lips quivering as she stared, caught between anger, disbelief, and relief. Then, tears began to roll down her cheeks.<\/p>\n \u201cHer basket dropped. Then she ran to me, crying uncontrollably. We both wept. For a long time, she couldn\u2019t speak; she just kept touching my face, as if to be sure I was real.<\/p>\n \u201cI had rehearsed my apology a hundred times. But when I saw her face, I forgot every word. All I could say was, \u2018Mama.\u2019 She touched my face again, tears in her eyes, as though to confirm I wasn\u2019t a ghost. Then she broke down, held me tightly, and we cried together.<\/p>\n \u201cFor over 30 minutes, my mother wept and trembled without a word. She shivered as though she were cold, her teeth chattering. I knew she was overwhelmed by the trauma I had caused her; years of pain, shame, and loneliness since my imprisonment and my father\u2019s death,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n Fearing the worst, Oyiza prayed silently that history would not repeat itself.<\/p>\n \u201cGod, please spare my mother. Don\u2019t let her die like my father. I can\u2019t bear that guilt again,\u201d he said quietly. His siblings soon joined in the emotional reunion, their tears mingling with relief and disbelief.<\/p>\n After what seemed like an eternity, his mother finally found her voice. Her words pierced his heart.<\/p>\n \u201cMy son, who made me a widow, has come back. The son I thought I would never see again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I heard those words, they cut through my heart like a knife,\u201d Oyiza said, his voice trembling. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t an accusation; it was anguish, the cry of a mother who had endured seven years of torment, loneliness, and stigma because of her son\u2019s choices.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Mama\u2026 I\u2019m sorry,\u201d he repeated, tears streaming down his face. They clung to each other, two broken souls bound by grief, forgiveness, and blood.<\/p>\n \u201cI apologised, but she said my apology could not bring back her husband or erase the name my actions had given her, \u2018a cultist\u2019s mother,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Inside the small family home, the air was heavy, thick with a mix of joy and sorrow. Photographs of his late father still hung on the wall, a haunting reminder of the price of youthful recklessness.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I saw my father\u2019s picture, I couldn\u2019t bear it,\u201d Oyiza recounted. \u201cI knelt before it, weeping. \u2018Papa, forgive me. I know I caused your death. I\u2019ll spend the rest of my life making things right,\u2019 I vowed.\u201d<\/p>\n Later, his family took him to his father\u2019s grave for spiritual closure. Kneeling before the headstone, tears streaming down his face, he spoke to his late father.<\/p>\n His mother placed a trembling hand on his shoulder and said softly, \u201cYour father loved you. He warned you, but you broke him. Promise me you\u2019ll never return to that life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI promised her,\u201d Oyiza said quietly. \u201cAnd I meant it.\u201d<\/p>\n Back inside the house, he shared stories of his time in prison, his conversion, years of reflection, and how his charge was eventually reduced from murder to manslaughter, a second chance he now sees as divine mercy.<\/p>\n Burden of the past<\/strong><\/p>\n In the quiet town of Ankpa, where whispers travel faster than the wind, Oyiza\u2019s story has become more than a tale of crime. It is a story of fall and redemption \u2014 of a family torn apart by violence and mended by forgiveness.<\/p>\n As he moved around the community with his mother, visiting relatives and neighbours, he could feel eyes on him, some filled with anger, others with pity or quiet condemnation.<\/p>\n Since his release, Oyiza has found solace in faith. He now attends a local Pentecostal church, where he shares his story with young people.<\/p>\n \u201cI tell them to flee from cultism,\u201d he said. \u201cIt promises power but delivers death.\u201d<\/p>\n Though forgiven, the scars of his past remain visible. \u201cWhen people hear my story, some look at me with fear; others avoid me. I don\u2019t blame them. I understand. I was once a bad boy,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n Yet, he remains hopeful. \u201cI believe my father is at peace now. His death woke me up. I won\u2019t waste this second chance,\u201d he promised.<\/p>\n Today, Oyiza\u2019s return has sparked conversations across the community about cultism, repentance, and second chances. His name, once synonymous with shame, now serves as a living reminder that redemption, though painful, is possible.<\/p>\n \u201cPrison didn\u2019t just punish me,\u201d he said softly, his gaze fixed on the horizon. \u201cIt remade me. I\u2019m not proud of who I was, but I\u2019m grateful for who I\u2019m becoming.\u201d<\/p>\n \u25cf This moving story was first published in The Sunday PUNCH of November 2, 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Forty-one-year-old Billy Oyiza, a former cultist who claimed to have killed three rivals in pursuit of promotion and indirectly caused his father\u2019s death, has finally reunited with his mother and siblings in a deeply emotional moment, just days after regaining freedom from the Kirikiri Correctional Centre, Lagos. After\u00a0seven years behind bars, Billy Oyiza finally returned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":91391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5777],"tags":[7417,7416,2944],"class_list":["post-95827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-features","tag-ankpa","tag-oyiza","tag-widow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/91391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}