Badoo: Man drowns in lagoon on birthday evading police arrest

CP Lagos, Fatai Owoseni

A 20-year-old motorcyclist, Mr Segun Owolabi, drowned in a lagoon at Ibeshe village, Ikorodu on his birthday, while attempting to evade being arrested by policemen raiding suspected Badoo members.

The victim was supposed to celebrate his birthday on the Saturday that the Joint Task Force (JTF) stormed Ikorodu, determined to raid all suspected Badoo group hideouts and halt the recurring ritual killings being carried out by the group.

It was also the fateful day that some angry youths threatened to burn down the palace of the monarch of Ibeshe land after corpse of Owolabi was retrieved from the lagoon.

According to residents, Owolabi and his friends were washing their motorbikes, when the JTF invaded the community and started raiding suspected Badoo members and hideouts.

Owolabi and his friends were said alleged to have jumped into the lagoon when they saw the policemen walking towards them, aiming to arrest them. Although he was not only the person that dived into the lagoon, he was, however, the only one that died. It was gathered while his friends could swim and swam to safety, Owolabi drowned because he couldn’t swim.

A resident, who gave her name simply as Mama Khadijat said: “On the fateful day, it was like we were in a war zone. Security agents stormed our village and seemed to take over everywhere. I was sleeping when I heard people shouting and calling for help. They said policemen; vigilante men had invaded our village and were arresting people. The policemen came with about 30 Black Maria vehicles.

“I saw some youths scampering in different directions, attempting to avoid being arrested by the policemen. Some people were picked from their room, while others were arrested right in the presence of their wives and children. It was a serious commotion that very day.”

Another resident, who does not want his name in print said: “It was an unfortunate incident. It was when the dust settled that we discovered that the deceased drowned in the lagoon. Since Segun’s parents divorced, he had been fending for himself. He had no one. He was all alone in the world.  Even the motorcycle he was washing on that fateful was got on installment. He went to the lagoon to wash the motorbike, and was planning to mark his birthday after he was through washing the motorbike. He didn’t that day would be his last on earth.”

The distraught father of the deceased, Mr. Abiodun Owolabi, residing at Ogijo, another axis of Ikorodu, told our correspondent that he was at his place of work when he received the news that his son was dead.

Abiodun said: “Immediately I received the phone call, I rushed down to Ibeshe; what they gave me was the remains of my son. I fainted instantly; the boy was my heir. He was my only male child. When I tried to find out what led to his death, I was told that some policemen were chasing him and his friends. They had nowhere to run, than to jump into the river. He drowned before the policemen turned back.

“My son was later retrieved from the river around 6pm on that same day. He was buried at the bank of the river as tradition demands. I want the policemen who chased and made him to drown to be investigated. I want them to be brought to justice. He didn’t commit any crime; why were them chasing him? He would have still been alive today.”

The deceased’s younger sister, Anjola Owolabi said: “The death of my brother was a shock. We had already prepared to celebrate his 20^th birthday. It was on that day he died. And he had to die in a lagoon.”

Chief Akeem Awogboju, the head of herbalists in the community said: “The death of the boy was an unfortunate incident. After the incident happed, we made efforts to persuade youths in the community not to take laws into their hands. God knows, nobody expected the deceased and his friends to jump into the lagoon when they sighted the police.”