Ikorodu killings: Police declare family wanted for raising false alarm

The Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Mr Fatai Owoseni, said on Saturday that the police were  on the trail of a  family, which  allegedly raised the false alarm that resulted  in the  killing  of four persons in Ikorodu.

Owoseni told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)  in Lagos  that the family already declared wanted had a fight with another family over an undisclosed matter, stressing that  it   raised a false alarm that the victims  were members of the notorious group Badoo  cult.

“The police are  after the family that raised the false alarm. We are investigating the case,’’ Owoseni said.

Sources had earlier told NAN that four persons,  who were branded to be members of the notorious Badoo cult group in Adamo area of Ikorodu,  were on Friday lynched by residents.

NAN gathered that members of the public, however, later discovered that the slain persons  were not members of the notorious cult group but land speculators.

NAN further learnt  that three houses, two vehicles and motorcycles were set ablazed in a reprisal attack by colleagues of the slain persons.

An unnamed person was said to have  started a building project on  Thursday in Araro area of Adamo in Ikorodu.

Some land speculators from Agunfoye area reportedly invaded the building site and demanded for royalty from the owner of the building.

A source told NAN that the man refused to give the men the money and they went away with a threat that they were coming back

“True to their threat,  they mobilised and returned on Friday but unknown to them, the owner of the building had also mobilised some youths in the area,” the source said.

NAN further gathered that a clash was said to have ensued between the land speculators and the residents,  forcing them to flee from the site of the building project.

The land speculators were escaping when  residents raised the alarm that they were members of the Badoo cult group.

It was also gathered that the residents had lied that the slain land speculators had earlier in the day killed a family of four people.

“More residents were mobilised and they reportedly chased the land speculators to where they were caught and beaten to stupor, with four of them eventually dying.

“The death of the land speculators sparked instant crisis as hoodlums from Agunfoye mobilised themselves and invaded Adamo  where three houses were burnt.

“The Agungoye thugs, who were armed with assorted dangerous weapons including guns, matches and broken bottles,  attacked residents of Araro, injuring some of them in the process.

Meanwhile, Ibeshe, Igbogbo and Isiu communities in Ikorodu have appealed to the state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, over the killings of the residents by the cult group.

According to leaders in the community, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, “these young boys will  attack their victim by spraying substance suspected to be traditional medicine on them, and thereafter, matched them, removing their teeth and use white handkerchief to drain their blood”.

“The most unfortunate thing is that when we arrested one of the cult member, who confessed that he remover four teeth of the wife of the victim and collected N5,00 000 for the operation was eventually released by the police.

“That is why we are calling on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to come to our rescue.”

“It took the intervention of policemen from the RRS and local divisions in Ikorodu before the angry hoodlums were dispersed,” a source told NAN.

Meanwhile, many residents of Araro have started relocating from the community following fears that the police might  arrest them.

Some of them also expressed  fears   that the hoodlums from Agunfoye might return to avenge the death of the slain four people.