Nigeria News examine the discovery of some dens of ritualists and the jungle justice on suspects.
When will jungle justice be abated in Nigeria? When will ritual and kidnapping stop in this country? Set him ablaze, kill him, arrest him, and hand him over to the police.
These were the common words at the two spots identified as dens of kidnappers and ritualists in Lagos the past week. The noise rented the air at Obadeyi area along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.
A street sweeper working with Lagos State Waste Management Agency just discovered a canal of death. Inside were kidnapers and their victims. One of the victims had cried out for help, making the street sweeper to raise the alarm.
Sensing a serious danger, the suspects sought an escape route but ended in the hands of angry mobs. Two out of the five suspected kidnapers were set ablaze before the police could arrive.
It was a gory scene but for the mobs, it was a justice well deserved. The residents jubilated that two of the criminals were killed instantly.
The police came with sniffer dogs and made more arrest, including a woman who pretended as a mad person. Inside her bag were identity cards, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards belonging to some victims and two loaves of bread.
She was lucky the police detectives showed up before she would be lynched.
As the dust of Obadeyi began to subside, the smoke of another ritualist den filled the air on the same Lagos-Abeokuta Road. It was the Zik Bus Stop, a stone throw to Mangoro Bus Stop.
The Lagos State Rapid Respond Squad had discovered a strange abode of some suspected gentlemen of the road but on getting to the spot what they saw was bigger.
The policemen discovered that gangs of suspected kidnappers were using a hole to perpetrate evil. Inside the hole, according to investigation were human parts, packed in different bowl with price tags.
Here, ritualists kidnap, kill and make human parts available for sale. Despite the presence of the policemen, mobs took law into their hands, set one of the arrested suspects ablaze.
The jungle justice prevailed on one while the other suspect who was wearing dreadlock was taken to the police custody.
Lagos residents were still trooping to the place to see the new den of the suspects.
However, the story changed on Friday when a police source said that the suspect that was set ablaze was not a ritualist neither was he a kidnapper. Findings revealed that he was a member of a church located beside the kidnapers den and had nothing to do with the criminals.
In a statement released by the Lagos State Police Command, the suspect was a destitute and had nothing to do with kidnapping but was burnt to death by irate mobs.
The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni expressed his displeasure with the approach of Lagos residents to justice, saying that it is illegal to set suspect ablaze.
He was referring to the two incidents that happened at Obadeyi and Ile-Zik where suspects were burnt to death and a police officer who was trying to stop this jungle justice attacked by the hoodlums.
Urging, residents to desist from such act, Owoseni said that the police would not only go after ritualists and kidnapers but would also arrest people who would not allow the police to do their work but derive pleasure from killing a suspect.
He noted that some of the suspects had been found to be innocent while the real criminals had continued to live in the community.