Badoo: Ikorodu residents recount ordeal

At Aliu Adesanya Street in Odogunyan, Ikorodu, the residents have taken up the responsibility for their security.

Recently, the deadly Badoo gang visited the street killing a man, his wife and child and cutting off their private parts, according to the residents.

“We know the number of people on this street and if a stranger comes here, we’ll quickly identify him,” a resident of the street who did not want to be named told PREMIUM TIMES.

“Opposite our house, a man was attacked, we call him Papa Chukwuemeka. He said around 3.30 a.m. he escaped death by the whiskers after a very dark figure gained entrance into his room through the window.

“Papa Chukwuemeka told us that the dark figure stood over his body with a grinding stone and dodged hitting his head before he struggled with his assailant and ran away through the window.”

At least 26 people have been killed in 15 different attacks since June last year, according to The Punch Newspaper, when the cult began to unleash terror on Ikorodu residents.

In their latest attack, last week, the cult killed three people at the Crystal Church of Christ at Owode-Ajegunle, along Ikorodu Road.

‘DESERTED HOMES’

Several residents in Ikorodu interviewed by PREMIUM TIMES declined to state their names on record out of fear for their lives.

A resident of Peace Estate, in Itamaga area of Ikorodu, said people are fleeing their homes to avoid being victims of the cult.

“How do you expect people to stay in this area, when all we see in the morning are corpses and brutal killings?” the resident said.

“The last killing was a family of five, the Badoo boys came around midnight, killed the man whom we know as Baba Tolu, raped and killed his pregnant wife, raped his 16 and five years old daughters and killed his nine-year-old son.”

He said the 16-year-old Tolu was not dead but in a coma in a hospital.

“Baba Tolu who had a fish pond was quickly buried in the front of his house because his body was already swollen after it was discovered by the teachers of the children who came to check up on them because they had not been in school for the past two days.

“Where are we going from here, we don’t have any other place to go. We are only asking the Lagos State government to come to our aid and beef up security in this area.”

Another resident of the estate said at the rate the cult members were attacking their community, it was only a matter of time before they wipe out everybody living in the area.

“The security in this area is very poor and we need the Lagos State government to act swiftly before they kill all of us.”

Last week, the police announced it hadarrested 100 suspected members of the Badoo cult, days after angry residents lynched a man believed to be one of the cultists.

As Ikorodu residents resorted to mob justice on any suspected member of the cult, the police on July 4 ordered everyone living in the area to move around with a valid form of identification.

“This has become important and necessary because of the series of police operations lined up in the area by the Lagos State Police Command led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of operations,” Olarinde Famous-Cole said in the statement announcing the order.

“The Lagos State Police Command is deeply concerned about the criminal activities in the area which is not only unlawful but also affecting the integrity of the state.

“The planned police operations demand 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.”