Police arrest Badoo’s high priest, destroy shrine

Thirty-four-year-old Fatai Adebayo aka Alese was yesterday pulled out from his shrine at No. 38, Ayegbami Quarters, Imosan Vilage, a suburb of Ijebu-Ode in Odogbolu Local Government area of Ogun State.

His arrest was sequel to the confession of some arrested Badoo members who revealed to the Lagos Police Command that the shrine was their spiritual base for oaths taking and diabolic backing before the commencement of each of their gruesome operations.

Adebayo operated in a wooden kiosk situated in his family compound where he lives with his wife and mother. The kiosks was ridden with varying fettish accessories including figurines, rocks, bottles of mixture, cowry-embedded apron, pictures of white men and women, black pots, goats, chickens among others.

The notorious activities of the dreaded cult group prevalent in Ikorodu and Epe axis of the state had sent many of the victims to their early graves with cruel killings through the smashing of mortar and pestle on victims’ heads.

Leading a team of security operatives such as the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS), Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Lagos Vigilante and the Lagos Task Force, the Commissioner of Police, Edgal Omohimi said the discovery was part of the success made in nipping criminal groups in the bud as the spearhead of the ritualist sect was arrested over the weekend during a duel to stop his escape.

He said: “Over the weekend, we had far reaching achievements in the fight against these killers in Ikorodu, otherwise called Badoo. Their kingpin has been arrested as he tried to make escape on water. One of the suspects confessed that before they go for any killing, the head of the group brings them to this man to carry out oaths and the piece of stone they use for their killings. He is an accomplish before the facts and we are definitely placing him on arrest.”

The CP went ahead to demolish the shrine before making a brief stop-over at the palace of the traditional ruler of Imosan Village, Chief Tajudeen Muili, to intimate him of the criminal activities going on under his domain, who said: “For me, I don’t support nonsense. So, I give you the permission to carry on.”

But Adebayo’s wailing mother, Toyin Ogunyemi, dismissed the allegations of aiding and abetting ritual killings, saying her son only performs healing rites for those in need. She said he has been a renowned herbalist without blemish.

According to her, the rocks found around the shrine were for mashing solutions. “My son does not perform evil medicines. People only come to him for healing solutions. He doesn’t do money ritual except prayers for success. Before God and Man, he is not robber or a killer,” she said.

The police boss said investigation was still ongoing but that the full details about the arrests made so far would be disclosed on Thursday at a press briefing.Revealing how the herbalist was arrested, Edgal said: “One of the suspects arrested confessed and he led us here that before they go for any killing, the head of the group brings them to this gentleman (Adebayo) to come and carry out oath for both themselves and the piece of stone they used for their killings and that they don’t go for any killing without first of all coming for oath in this shrine and that is why we are here.

“This gentleman is an accomplice before the fact and so definitely we are placing him under arrest and as well as sealing off the shrine till after investigation. I will give further details on Thursday during my press briefing but I can assure the good people of Ikorodu, Lagosians and Nigerians that we will not rest until this evil is completely rooted out from Lagos State,” Edgal assured.

This is coming barely 48 hours after a fresh Badoo attack on a building on Alajo Street, Abule Osorun, in Ibeshe, Ikorodu, claimed the life of a man and left his wife and their baby in a coma. The victims were found in a pool of blood by a neighbour who went to greet them at the weekend.They were said to have been rushed to the Ikorodu General Hospital, from where they were referred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.

It was gathered that the man, Sakiru Yekini, popularly known as Shako in the community, gave up the ghost on Sunday, while his wife, Kehinde, and the five-month-old baby were still receiving treatment at the hospital.

Residents had told newsmen that the attacks were becoming rampant after a few months of respite in Ibeshe and environs. One of them said the assailants tore the window net of the family’s apartment to gain entry, adding that the window did not have burglar-proof bars.

He said, “It has been resolved in a community meeting that neighbours should check on one another every morning to find out if all is well. On Saturday morning, a neighbour of the victims went to their apartment and met them unconscious and bleeding. He raised the alarm and many residents rushed to the apartment. I was also there. I saw a stone the gang used to smash the heads of the couple; the baby also sustained injuries. The husband, Shako, died in LASUTH on Sunday.”