The menace of the bloody activities of the Badoo cult group has taken a new dimension following the cries and decision of the residents of Ikorodu to resort to self-help in dealing with the notorious cult.
The Badoo cult members, according to investigations, are now targeting community activists and relatives of their victims who have been taking vigilante measures to stop the Badoo cult’s deadly operations across the various communities.
Five of the six local government and local council development areas in Ikorodu division in Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria, have experienced cases of Badoo attacks in the past year.
Oriwu Sun gathered that Badoo gang members had struck in Ibeshe community. Killing a family of three including the father, mother and son. The family was identified as the Ridwan family.
It was gathered that the Badoo suspects carried out the dastard act at the early hours of that faithful day, May 21, 2017 when they attacked the victims in their sleep after forcefully gaining entrance into their bungalow building.
In order to guide against further attacks by the deadly group, residents have resolved to organize themselves into vigilante groups to complement of the conventional and unconventional security arrangements in providing security for them.
In recent times the deadly gang has been going after communities where its members had been apprehended to scare and threaten residents.
The community efforts have so far paid off as some suspects have been apprehended while carrying out the deadly attacks and jungle justice consequently meted to them despite warning by the Lagos Police demand against such act.
Oriwu Sun gathered that the successes recorded so far through the community vigilance efforts were due to the native intelligence and knowledge of their own terrain unlike the police.
It was also gathered that the Community Development Associations (CDAs) have also developed intelligence capacity through many means.
Aside the deployment of men of the local vigilance groups like Onyabo, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and Vigilance Group of Nigeria (VGN) among others to various areas to provide security, community activists have also constituted themselves into intelligence groups to work with the security formations on shift basis.
This has led to the apprehension of many suspected Badoo boys in different parts of the division with residents meting different corporal punishments to them and also using different uncivilized means to extract information from them.
Between July and August 2017, residents of Ibeshe have apprehended about four Badoo suspects with one of them lynched to death.
Some of the residents that spoke with Oriwu Sun said that the lynched suspect and his cohorts were threatening and leaving signatures in houses they have visited or intended to visit.
One Badoo suspect who was an Hausa man, was nabbed in Isiu area of Ikorodu North LCDA on May 8, 2017, around 12pm.
It was alleged that the apprehended suspect, alongside two other accomplice, had came on spying mission for a planned operation later in the night. The two others ran away after seeing that their colleague had been apprehended. The suspect was said to have confessed that they were on spying mission for a group through an interpreter after being tortured.
According to report, the residents had become suspicious when they saw the three strange men moving in different directions and surveying houses.
On May 30, 2017, another four Badoo suspects were apprehended by residents of Adamo also in Ikorodu North LCDA and summarily executed. The incident, however, turned out to be a case of mistaken identity as the suspects were later identified as land speculators.
On Friday, June 30, 2017, another Badoo suspect was lynched and set ablaze at Igbo-Olomu in Ikorodu Central Local Government.
Also, Paul Chinedu, a comedian popularly called MC ‘Think Twice’ and two other people were apprehended in Odogunyan axis of Ikorodu on the ground that they were Badoo suspects due to the grinding stones and other weapons being used by the Badoo group allegedly found in their car.
The three men were lynched, cut into pieces and set ablaze by the vigilance group and residents that apprehended them.
Odogunyan, which is very notorious for violence engagements among cult groups, is fast emerging as a leading area where Badoo groups attacks are holding sway after Ibeshe.
Another case of Badoo menace happened at Offin community in Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, where the family of one Daini Olubayo was ambushed by the deadly group. Oriwu Sun gathered that there were attempts by the cult group to forcefully initiate his son, Samuel Daini and his family’s attempt to prevent his association with the gang led to their ordeal with constant threat to their lives.
There are also allegations that arrested Badoo suspects are being released by the police without due investigation and that the released suspects returned to the community where they were apprehended to unleash violence on those they suspected to have exposed and handed them over to the police.
This has consequently put the lives of some of the community activists, who are antagonists of the Badoo deadly group, under serious threat as there have been cases of some activists being attacked or been targets of Badoo deadly attacks.
More community activists have become targets of the deadly gang due to the recent stalling of its operations as a result of vigilance activities of the residents in recent time.
While cases of arrest and lynching have been recorded in communities like Ibeshe and Olu-Odo/Adegbose in Igbogbo/Bayeku Local Council Development Area; Aga, Igbo-Oluwo, Isiu, Odogunyan in Ikorodu Local Government and Ijede in Ijede Local Council Development Area, it was gathered that the deadly gang, in recent time, has been going after communities where its members had been apprehended and lynched to scare and threaten residents.
A senior executive member of Community Development Association (CDA) in Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, who did not want his name in print, said that they have been receiving cases of members being threatened.
“Since the onslaught on the Badoo activities due to the increase in vigilance activities, we have been receiving threat messages and calls. It clearly shows that we are tightening the noose on these evil men.
“We are not deterred by these threats, though, I must confess that these threats seem to have negative impact on many of our members who have reduced their commitments because they do not want to become targets.”
In Adegbose area, a popular community activist called Alfa, woke up one morning to see threat message boldly written on his wall. The message reads “We are coming for you”
Meanwhile, the Lagos Police Command, under the leadership of CP Imohimi Edgal, has stated that the force will continue partnering with local vigilance group like Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Onyabo Vigilante Group and other organised security outfits to checkmate the activities of the dreadful Badoo group and militants in Ikorodu division.