Panic in Ogun as another Badoo suspect gets stabbed, burnt

 The spate of jungle justice meted out on suspected criminals continued yesterday as angry residents set ablaze a middle-aged man in Magbo Ogijo, Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State. 

The man was suspected to be a member of the dreaded Badoo cult which had been on a killing spree, especially in neighbouring Ikorodu area of Lagos State. 

He was accused of allegedly being in possession of the severed head of a baby. 

The Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, who went to Ogijo on an official assignment, ran into the burnt suspect around 2:05pm.

On sighting Iliyasu and his lieutenants, the crowd immediately dispersed from the scene.  Policemen on the CP's convoy immediately evacuated the remains of the burnt man. 

Some of the residents, who shouted from afar, claimed that the suspect was a member of Badoo gang, who came to the area to perpetrate crime. The suspect was beaten to a pulp and stabbed several times with broken bottles before being set on fire. 

Meanwhile, there was palpable tension at Emuren, Igode, Ogijo and neighbouring communities in Sagamu over impending cult clashes.

The planned attacks were said to be in celebration of the cultists' annual 7/7 (July 7) anniversary, which symbolises their orientation.

Several people were killed last year when gunmen, suspected to be cultists, went on the rampage at some border communities between Lagos and Ogun states. 

The chairman, Sagamu South Local Council Development Area, Olugbenga Hassan, confirmed the fear of residents of the communities yesterday. 

Speaking at a town’s hall meeting organized by the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) in Ogijo, the council boss expressed concern and appealed to the police to beef up security in the areas. 

Hassan urged, who urged that suspected Badoo members should be reported to law enforcement agents, implored people to desist from jungle justice.

Speaking, Iliyasu assured members of the communities that several measures had been taken to forestall any further breach of security in the state. 

He disclosed that men of the Police Mobile Force, Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), and Anti-kidnapping and cultism unit, among others, had already been deployed across the state. 

Iliyasu, however, warned: “We will not allow jungle justice in the state. If you suspect anybody, report immediately to the police. If you see something, say something. Don't take laws into your hands. The DPO will organize and zone this place into various patrol zones. Stakeholders in security and the DPO should work together. I don't want to hear anything like Badoo again. 

"On the issue of 7/7, I have directed the Area Commanders to act. I don't want to hear any problem. PMF, SARS, anti-kidnapping have been mobilized and deployed. We are going to assist you from Abeokuta (state command) and provide necessary support. There should not be panic."

Earlier, Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State warned militants, cultists and criminals to steer clear of the state or face dire consequences.

Amosun gave the warning after he met with heads of security and paramilitary agencies in the state at his office in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

The governor had met with heads of the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police Force, State Security Service, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE).

Amosun said: "We will not tolerate any criminal groups, no matter the group they belong to, or the name they call themselves in our state. No criminal would be allowed to terrorise us in Ogun State and we are ready and fully prepared for them."

 Yesterday, the Senator, representing Lagos East in the Senate, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, has decried the rising incidents of jungle justice in the Ikorodu area of Lagos East Senatorial District.

 News of reported incidents of lynching and in some cases outright killing of suspected members of the Badoo cult group, terrorizing the community hit the airwaves in the past few days. With some of the victims identified as innocent law abiding members of the society.

Ashafa, while commending residents of Ikorodu for saying no to Badoo group, said: “I commend the efforts of the Government of Lagos State ably led by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, in conjunction with Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, various vigilante groups including the Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) and the Onyabo who have mobilized with the police to flush out as many of such criminals as exist within the Ikorodu environment.”

 Ashafa, however, condemned the incidents of jungle justice, stating that, “Unfortunately, I have also received the news that in the process of resisting the members of the Badoo group, residents of Ikorodu have taken the laws into their hands and resorted to jungle justice. In some instances as reported, people have been arrested and burnt to death. This is absolutely unacceptable; it is against the tenets of humanity and justice.”