When 19-year-old Ayomide Ogunsola left his parents’ 66 Odusola Street, Pleasure, Lagos, home to go to church penultimate Sunday morning, he did not have any inkling that the short journey would end in an Ogun (Yoruba god of iron) shrine.
In fact, Ogunsola never dreamt about the circumstances that almost turned him into a sacrificial lamb in the shrine, allegedly operated by members of the Yoruba ethnic militia, Odua Peoples Congress.
The teenager, who was on his way to church, while members of the OPC were in hot pursuit of some suspected criminals in the area, was mistaken for one of the fleeing hoodlums.
Apprehended, beaten black and blue, he was taken back in chains to the OPC shrine. Having been immediately pronounced guilty without any form of trial, he was summarily sentenced to death and his head placed on Ogun’s altar, awaiting the executioner’s sword.
But before the executioner’s arrival, providence intervened in the teenager’s case, as some residents, who saw what was about to become of him with the Ogun sword swiveling over his head, raised the alarm.
Ogunsola was eventually rescued. But by the time he was let off the OPC members’ hook, the teenager’s visage and appearance looked like that of a victim just rescued from the scene of an auto accident – his eyes had become bloodshot and his body full of multiple lacerations. He’s still lying critically ill in an undisclosed hospital.
The Point, however, learnt that following the ugly incident, members of the OPC indicted over the crime had fled the area, as the leaders of the group launched a manhunt for them to account for their wrong deed.
During The Point’s visit to the victim’s house at the Pleasure area of Lagos, residents stated that but for quick intervention of people who knew Ogunsola, he would have been killed for sacrifice at the shrine by the OPC members.
The residents, however, expressed doubt that the people involved in the criminal act were authentic members of the Yoruba ethnic militia group. A resident of the area, Mr. Lateef Olawunmi, said, “If not for the intervention of God, Ayomide would have been sacrificed at the Ogun shrine of the OPC members.
He was arrested, as a suspect they were pursuing on that very early morning escaped. But when you arrest someone as a suspect over any allegation, does the Nigerian law give you authority to sacrifice him or her in Ogun shrine?
This is a boy that was going to church when you arrested him, and instead of you to investigate him, you battered him and later took him to your shrine, tied him and placed his neck for sacrifice. If you see him, you will realise how this boy was brutally battered.”
Another resident of the area, who simply identified himself as Ademola, said government should ban any group not recognised by law from operating in the society.
According to him, the group perpetrated series of evil acts under the pretence of safeguarding the interests of common people. “It is time government banned groups like OPC from our society.
The evil they perpetrate is too much. And all these are happening because they do not regulate the recruitment of their members. They end up habouring hoodlums, who use the name of the group to rob and do other evil acts,” he said.
Concerning Ogunsola’s case, Ademola said, “I was among the people that went with his parents to the OPC office, where we met this boy tied down. On getting there, when I saw the boy, I was scared, having seen how he was tortured.
His eyes turned something else, and his body was battered severely. When I personally inquired from them about what transpired, they said he was a robbery suspect alongside other suspects that were arrested.
But to my surprise, when the parents of this boy with a human rights group took the matter up, these OPC people were nowhere to be found again”. Ademola also said that the landlords’ association in the area would collaborate with the authorities of the OPC in Lagos State to conduct an investigation into the incident.
However, policemen at the Ile Epo Division were also alleged to have compromised in their handling of the case, by allegedly conniving with the fleeing OPC members. The mother of the victim, Mrs. Bisola Olusoga, said she did not expect the police at the Ile Epo Division to demand for N10,000 for the release of her son, who was taken to the station, after he was rescued from the OPC shrine.
I was called by people that day that OPC members at Ekoro were about to sacrifice my son at their Ogun shrine. Immediately, we rushed to the place. When we got there, I met him tied like a goat to be killed. And I started crying for help
“When we insisted that the case should have been taken to a police station, even if they suspected him for anything, they later took us to Ile Epo Police Station. But to my surprise, the police officers there didn’t do anything than demanding N10,000 to bail my son.
Eventually, we paid the money and took him to the hospital for immediate treatment.” Recounting how the incident occurred, Olusoga said, ”I was called by people that day that OPC members at Ekoro were about to sacrifice my son at their Ogun shrine.
Immediately, we rushed to the place. When we got there, I met him tied like a goat to be killed. And I started crying for help. “He was going to church around 7am on Sunday morning, when they arrested him.
I learnt they were running after someone and when they couldn’t get the person, one of the OPC members stopped my son and called on the others to arrest him. After this, they took him to their office, where they tied him and attempted to sacrifice him to Ogun in their shrine.
“We met them there. They wanted to sacrifice him. When we were later introduced to one of the OPC leaders in the area, who took us to the office again to identify the boys involved, they could not be found. They have all absconded.”
The Director of Joshabel Toucha-Heart Foundation, a human rights group, Ms. Favour Benson, lamented the maltreatment inflicted on innocent people by law enforcement agencies and groups such as the OPC.
Benson called on the police and the government to rise to the occasion and check such human rights abuses. She insisted that justice must be ensured in the teenager’s case. “It is time government rose to save people from jungle justice in the hands of groups like OPC and others, which are not law enforcers in this country.
The case of this young boy was so pathetic when he was brought to our office and we will ensure that justice prevails. “The fact that the boy was tied and they said his neck was placed on the Ogun shrine for sacrifice, is an offence against humanity. These people need to answer series of question in the court of law and we will not stop until justice is done,” Benson said.
A former leader of the OPC in Ebute Meta, Lagos, Chief Ishola Agbodemu, said government needed to take urgent steps to stop the jungle justice been meted to innocent people by the group.
“I personally left the group when I discovered their practices could not be supported anywhere in the world.
Moreover, they are not regulated in their dealings, since they are mostly made up of hoodlums, whose characters are even questionable in the society. Regarding that boy’s case, I will implore the police to quickly investigate it and make sure that the OPC members involved are given the appropriate punishment.
Efforts by The Point to reach out to the OPC National Leader, Chief Gani Adams, were not successful. Adams’ mobile phone could not be reached as at press time.
