By Gbemiga Olakunle
Badoo is an application on social media. It is an online dating site for those who may find it difficult to get the love of their lives in real life. Although some users of the medium might have abused it, its inventors like those who invented Facebook, Twitter, Viber and Snapchat, among other social media applications, do have good intentions for bringing their application online to be a player in social media circles.
Unfortunately, the name of that particular social application brand has been hijacked and bastardized by a group of deadly cultists/ritualists which has been prowling and terrorizing the residents of Ikorodu and some parts of Lagos metropolis for several months, if not a year now.
It started as if it was the kind of gang wars that the people of Lagos, especially those residing in Mushin, Bariga, Shomolu, and Oshodi Local Government Areas, were used to. But before long, this group of bad boys veered into full-fledged armed–robbery operations. And, the brutality with which they attacked their victims made them to be deadlier than the Boko Haram terrorists operating mainly in the Northeast, and engaging the Nigerian military in full–blown war for the past five or six years before their fighting capacity was recently downgraded–but not yet defeated.
The Badoo cultists/ritualists are considered deadlier than Boko Haram terrorists because they reportedly kill their victims in a crude and horrific manner, using millstones (the one popularly known as omo olo ata in Yoruba language and used for grinding pepper, beans, melon seeds and some grains manually). And, in most of their operations, they aimed to exterminate or wipe off the whole family of their unfortunate targets.
Afterwards, they allegedly used white handkerchiefs to wipe the blood of their victims. In most cases, the belongings of their victims were left intact. According to some reports, each of the blood – stained handkerchiefs were sold for as much as N500,000 for ritual purposes. Credence was lent to this story when a traditional ruler (baale) and a shrine operator /priest were reportedly arrested in connection with the operations of the Badoo cultists in their area.
And, as if that was not enough, another traditional ruler (baale) and his younger brother were arrested by the Lagos State Government for faking their own kidnap, just to embarrass the authorities and extort money from the Government while facilitating their rescue from the stage-managed kidnap, before their secrets were let out.
Despite the frantic efforts of the Lagos Government, the Lagos Police Command and other sister security agencies, the Badoo boys have reportedly spread the tentacles of their operations to some parts of Lagos metropolis when they reportedly killed two young lovers in Ketu/Ojota areas. Some unconfirmed reports also indicate that they have now gone mobile in their operations by operating through danfo buses otherwise called ‘one chance’ in Lagos.
This, they do, by posing as normal passengers and public transport operators to catch their unsuspecting victims before they drive them to their dens. Funny enough, such dens may not be located in some remote areas or in the thick forests. Some of them may be located along the highways within our urban centres.
Only last week, no fewer than three ritualists’ dens were discovered along Lagos–Abeokuta highway within the Lagos metropolis. One was discovered by a highway manager/sweeper when she heard the cries of a woman crying for help under a tunnel located in the Ile-Epo Zik bus stop along Lagos – Abeokuta highway. Through the grace of God, the victim was rescued while two of her predators were lynched before the arrival of the Police who took the other three members of the deadly gang into their custody.
Still within the Lagos metropolis, another kidnappers/ritualists’ den was discovered when a disguised mad woman turned out to be a kidnapper sitting on a refuse–dump. When her secret was let out, a big man–hole was actually in the middle of the refuse–dump that was actually littered with the footwear and other personal effects of people that had fallen victim to their deadly attacks.
Nobody knows whether it is our wrong value system that is responsible for this get-rich-quick syndrome among our youths. This is a situation where our society measures achievements by the number of exotic cars a person drives or the number of mansions built by some questionable characters without verifying the sources(s) of such persons’ wealth. Such characters would even be recognised with the awards of chieftaincy titles in their communities or given exalted positions in some religious circles once they are able to buy their way into the hearts of gullible traditional and religious leaders.
The other major reason kidnappers or ritualists are prowling our streets may be that their patrons are ambitious politicians or business tycoons who are seeking for powers by all means- whether diabolical or godly. As far as these crazy power–seekers are concerned, the end justifies the means even if human lives are involved or sacrificed to achieve their selfish aims or their inordinate ambitions. And, as we approach the general elections in 2019, these bad elements with their patrons may want to step up their activities, except our security operatives mount very stiff resistance to checkmate them.
This is one area where community policing may be very useful. Nigerian Police Force personnel or other security operatives may not know the local terrains and the different characters in their Areas of Responsibility (AOR), hence the need for them to partner with the personnel of the proposed community police to achieve the common purpose of securing lives and property wherever they are posted to.
This has been demonstrated by the kind of support that our military has been receiving from members of Local Civilian Joint–Task Force (CJTF) whose members have been collaborating with the soldiers in their war against the Boko–Haram jihadists, especially in the areas of information/intelligence gathering on Boko–Haram militants .
Olakunle is General Secretary, National Prayer Movement
And to properly secure our streets, neighbourhoods and highways, there is the need for governments at both federal and state levels to assist in crime prevention (especially kidnapping for whatever purposes) by providing functional Close–Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) and regularly analyse images from them with a view to sending signals to security patrol teams to prevent crime.
More importantly, our society should revert to our old value-system where achievements are recognized through verifiable means in contributing to the development of the communities and not those who do drugs or engage in other vices like kidnapping, rituals, prostitution and looting of government treasuries, just to buy themselves positions of ‘honour’ in our societies or religious circles. If we ignore these questionable money-bags and refuse to worship them, their propensity to engage in crime will be drastically reduced.
After all, a man who has a fleet of cars cannot ride in them at the same time. Same goes for a person who has a big mansion with 10 or more luxurious rooms cannot sleep on more than one bed in a night. If he does, such a person may need the attention of a psychiatric doctor or he may need to go for a deliverance session. And so, all these display of opulence or ill-gotten wealth are just for show–offs which our society must discourage through admonitions and sermons from our religious leaders and opinion/traditional leaders for us to live in a crime – free society like Norway or Netherlands, where the jail-houses are reportedly virtually empty.
Gbemiga Olakunle, JP General Secretary, National Prayer Movement
gbemigaolakunle.blogspot.com
Abuja.