Long before the police in Lagos thought it wise to declare a full-scale war against Badoo, a band of rapists and ritual murderers that has been wreaking havoc on residents of Ikorodu area of the state for too long, the residents, wearied of prolonged police inaction, had resorted to self-help in a bid to defend themselves.
This self-help has come mostly in form of lynching and setting ablaze of suspected Badoo gang members before the arrival of the police. The residents, who reports say now keep vigil most nights since the gang members are known to operate during unholy hours, do not seem to trust that the police would do justice when suspects are handed over to them.
But as in most incidents of jungle justice, the innocent often fall victim. That was how comedian Chinedu Paul, known by his stage name MC Think Twice, had his life cut short alongside two others in the wee hours of last Sunday.
Reports have it that Paul had just featured in a television talk-show hosted by Ikponmwosa Osakioduwa (IK) and was on his way home when his car broke down. The comedian, who was billed to perform at ‘Salt the Album’ launch on July 22, and his two friends were on their way to tow the broken-down vehicle when they were accosted by members of a vigilante group. Despite their explanations, the vigilantes accused them of being members of the Badoo gang and called out residents who lynched the victims and set them ablaze alongside the Honda-CRV they rode in.
A long reign of terror
Jungle justice is what it is – BARBARIC. It can never be justified. But for far too long the Badoo gang members have ruthlessly unleashed mayhem on the residents of Ikorodu and adjoining communities, leaving in their trail deaths, sorrow, anguish and destruction. Tales of their activities have been as gory and ghoulish as they come – ranging from rapes to killings, maiming, kidnapping, and occasional cult clashes.
The Badoo gang’s reign of terror has reportedly spread throughout Lasunwon, Odogunyan, Ogijo, Ibeshe Tutun, Eruwen, Olopomeji and other communities in Ikorodu. Their underlying motivation seems to be ritualistic in nature. The gang members are reported to wipe their victims’ private part with a white handkerchief after each rape for onward delivery to their alleged sponsors; slain victims have also been said to have had their heads smashed with a grinding stone and their blood and brain soaked with white handkerchiefs for ritual purposes. Latest reports quoted an arrested member of the gang to have told the police that each blood-soaked handkerchief is sold for N500,000.
In just about a year, precisely between July 2016 and June 2017, the cult was said to have murdered over 30 residents and injured several others, sometimes wiping out whole families. Some of the cases have gone unreported.
Before carrying out their nefarious deeds, the gang members reportedly embark on clandestine surveillance in the daytime to identify the target houses, mostly where single and married women live. At night, they storm the identified houses, gain entrance by hook or crook, and rape, maim or kill their victims.
Among numerous other cases, on April 18, 2017, Lucky Ebhodaghe, his wife and his son Lucky, an SS3 student, were hacked to death in their home on Oyekanmi Street, Ibeshe Tutun, by armed men suspected to be Badoo members. Their heads, it was gathered, were smashed with a grinding stone.
On June 23, the bodies of a couple, Baba and Mama Seun, were found on their matrimonial bed Idioro area of Ogijo. They were suspected to have been hacked to death by the Badoo gang as a grinding stone was said to have been found on them.
There was a reported case in Gberigbe community, a suburb of Ijede, where the gang forcefully entered a home, raped women and killed six persons, including two-year old baby. In another incident, they attacked a home in Aleke, Adamo, killed a family of four after raping a mother and her two daughters to death.
In another case, the gang members entered a Celestial Church of Christ at Itesiwaju area of Ibeshe during a vigil, lured an eight-year-old girl outside, took her away from the church’s vicinity and gang-raped her until she passed out, after which they cleaned her private part with a handkerchief.
In yet another case in Oluwoye community, the gang struck at the home of a family of four where they killed a pregnant woman, removed the foetus and used their handkerchiefs to clean the blood. The woman’s husband, Yusuf Kazeem, and their two children narrowly escaped death as they were revived in the hospital.
On June 28, the gang attacked four buildings in Odogunyan community, wiping out a family of five in the process.
In all of this, security forces in the state, particularly the police, have failed to live up to expectation, despite several assurances that they are on top of the situation. Reports quote Ikorodu residents as saying the police have failed them, for which reason they have taken the laws into their hands.
But even as the police continued to assure Ikorodu residents of their safety, the gang in the early hours of Tuesday struck at Crystal Church of Christ (C&S), Aladura, located at number 4, Victor Anibaba Street, Owode Weighbridge, killing three people, including a two-year-old girl, and injuring the wife of the founder of the church identified as Mrs. Ajidara, who was rushed to an undisclosed hospital. As usual, the skulls of the victims were smashed with grinding stone.
Police failure
Ishola Balogun, in a May 27 article, said despite several reports in the media of organised massacres of families including children by the Badoo gang, the police and other security agents had done little or nothing to stop the menace.
“The police have not arrested and prosecuted any member of this gang even when series of complaints have been made to the force while helpless residents have continued to lose their lives to Badoo attacks. How this group of traditionally sophisticated ritualists overwhelms the intelligence and technical know-how of the police remains a big question,” Balogun said in the article entitled ‘Badoo, deflating police in Lagos’.
An Ikorodu resident who gave his name as Ojo, according to a July 3 Vanguard report, said, “If the police and government had risen to the challenge before now, perhaps others who lost their lives would have been saved. But they waited too long before taking action.”
This is clearly the general feeling in Ikorodu. Hapless, helpless and in perpetual fear of the unknown, several residents of Ikorodu communities have fled to safety, abandoning their homes and property. As people flee, those who stay behind keep nightly vigils to defend themselves.
Last Sunday, a member of the Ikorodu Ambassadors Group on Facebook confirmed in a post on the forum that residents of Ojogbe (Beach Road), Ikorodu – “youths, women, and the entire people of Ojogbe” – were outside their homes securing their lives with weapons against the Badoo gang.
Resort to jungle justice
In the apparent absence of police protection, the people have taken the laws into their hands.
Apart from the recent case involving comedian Chinedu Paul, an angry mob in the Aga area of Ikorodu on June 5 lynched a suspected Badoo member, Vincent Onama, who was arrested while attempting to strangle a motorcyclist and dispossess him of his motorbike. The police attempt to pick up the suspect at Oni-Ogunsanya Street where he was being interrogated by the people failed abysmally.
Not even the assurances by Fatai Owoseni, Lagos State Police Commissioner who visited the scene, that he was personally leading investigations on insecurity in Ikorodu and that members of Badoo gang and their sponsors would be arrested and brought to book, could pacify the people. Of course, his appeal to the people to desist from jungle justice clearly fell on deaf ears.
It was gathered that the mob’s refusal to release the culprit to the police arose from previous experiences where residents had handed over suspects to security operatives only for the suspects to be released later and return on vengeful mission.
“Once a suspect is apprehended by the vigilante group, we have warned that we will not spare him because some suspects who have been handed over to the police have regained their freedom and become more deadly,” Balogun quoted a resident to have said.
In continuation of their self-help efforts, traditional rulers and native doctors in Ikorodu recently performed two days’ propitiation rituals to seek solution to their plight. Since then, at least eight suspected members of the cult group have been reportedly arrested and set ablaze even before the arrival of security operatives.
Need for caution
Rasheed Fatuga, coordinator of Ikorodu Ambassadors Group, while acknowledging that security agencies have failed Ikorodu residents, however condemned the killing of suspects and urged residents to be law-abiding and not allow bitterness and the thirst for vengeance rob them of their humanity.
According to him, apart from the clear illegality of jungle justice, innocent people might die in the process just as vital evidence or source of information may be destroyed as well.
“Are we going to just fold our arms and do absolute nothing about the security challenges we are facing in Ikorodu? No, we cannot let that happen. But we cannot turn ourselves into killers and murderers like them. We cannot let them take away our humanity. We cannot let them fill our consciences with regret. We cannot let them fill our minds with hatred and fill our dreams with darkness,” said Fatuga.
“Let us say no to setting people ablaze, beating people to death and use of tyres to burn people. It is a crime. Let’s do the right thing by handing criminals to the police, and make sure we follow it up. We are role models. The international community and our children are watching us,” he said.
Full-scale war on Badoo
After a long and needless wait, the police in Lagos on July 1 raided suspected hideouts of the Badoo gang members in Ibeshe, Ita-Maga, Ijede, Ipakodo, Igbogbo/Bayeku, Imota, and so on.
In the raid by a combined team of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command, Lagos State Task Force, Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) and local vigilante groups, over 100 suspected members of the gang were arrested.
Olarinde Famous-Cole, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and the command’s spokesman, who confirmed the arrests, said, “Screening has commenced. A total of 138 suspects were raided. Those found to be innocent would be released but those who are suspected of criminality would be charged to court. We have not arrested anyone in connection with the killings. Investigation is ongoing.”
He reiterated the call on residents to desist from jungle justice as the police and the state government would leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the state was uncomfortable and hot for criminal elements who perpetrate these nefarious activities.
“It is a continuous operation and we will rid Ikorodu of criminals,” Famous-Cole said.
But Ikorodu residents on Monday faulted the police over the raid, saying most of those arrested were innocent people going about their lawful businesses, even as they accused security forces of shielding those behind the ritual killings. Before now, it has been alleged that some bigwigs in Ikorodu were behind the Badoo gang, making arrest and prosecution of culprits almost impossible.
Meanwhile, Famous-Cole in a July 4 press statement directed the general public, particularly residents of Ikorodu and environs, who move around the Ikorodu area of the state to “always have on them a valid form of identification”. This, he said, became necessary because of the series of police operations lined up in the area by the state police command led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of operations.
“The planned police operations demands residents to carry on them a valid form of identification which will be verified, in order not to be restricted or face apprehension as adequate security arrangements have been put in place for the safety of every Nigerian throughout the state by the police and other security agencies,” Famous-Cole said in the statement.
On WhatsApp, a message entitled “AVOID FALLING VICTIM TO JUNGLE JUSTICE – Some Useful Tips for Ikorodu Residents and Visitors” has been circulating. The message, whose origin is so far unknown, says in light of the declaration of war against Badoo cult group in Ikorodu, with innocent people falling victim of jungle justice, there was need for extreme caution in order to avoid falling victim. It then gives the following tips:
“(1) Schedule your movement to/from Ikorodu to as close to daylight as possible. Don’t leave home too early in the morning and don’t arrive too late at night. (2) Always carry your identity card with you. (3) Always dress properly like a responsible person, not like a ruffian or a criminal. Have a proper gentleman haircut; avoid keeping dreadlocks. (4) Have definite and definable direction to your destination. Always inform your loved ones about your whereabouts.
“(5) When visiting someone, call the person beforehand. Get the proper direction to his address. If his address is not clear, have him wait for you at a definable bus stop our public landmark to take you home. (6) Do not pay someone a surprise, unannounced visit, especially at night. It could spell trouble if the person is not at home! (7) If accosted by security or vigilante group, stay calm. Identify yourself properly. State where you are going to chastely. Submit yourself calmly and carefully to security search. Let them know that you don’t mind them following you to your destination if they doubt you. Don’t act arrogantly or rudely.
“(8) If driving, avoid offering strangers a lift. You can vouch for yourself, but can you vouch for the stranger that you carry? (9) Always avoid carrying incriminating objects unnecessarily, e.g., knife, oil, grinding stone, hammer, crowbar, cutlass, etc. These apparently ordinary objects in certain freak combinations could connote sinister meanings. (10) Warn your loved ones NEVER to visit you without prior notice. They must come during the day and never at night. If they will stay late during the visit, they must sleep over and leave in the morning. Send this post to them before they visit, as all the points above also apply to them.”
Too little too late?
As the police say they have moved full swing into Ikorodu with “series of police operations” to rid the area of the Badoo gang and other criminal elements, observers wonder why they had to wait for so long before tackling a problem they would have nipped in the bud.
Fatuga of Ikorodu Ambassadors believes it was police lethargy in responding to the situation and failure on the part of “all concerned and constituted authorities in Ikorodu” to neutralise the “evil act” that allowed it to fester, saying it’s a shame that the deadly activities of the Badoo gang still go on one year after.
“The questions Ikorodu residents want answers to are: Who is Badoo in Ikorodu? When will Badoo killings in Ikorodu end? If after a year of the activities of these ritualists or cultists in Ikorodu, and the Lagos Police still has no answers, then we are done for,” he said in a Facebook post.
A renowned Lagos-based media practitioner, who does not want his name in print, agrees that the security forces waited for too long before responding.
He adds, however, that it is better late than never, expressing hope that the police would not soon relapse into inactivity after these initial moves.
CHUKS OLUIGBO
