Otunba Gani Adams is the factional leader of the O’odua People Congress (OPC). His group is collaborating with the Nigerian Police to checkmate the activities of the dreaded Badoo Boys in and around Ikorodu area. He spoke with GBENGA ADERANTI and OKORIE UGURU on how his group is assisting the Police to once again secure lives and property in Ikorodu. Excerpts:
HOW do you assess the collaboration between the Police and the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) on the Badoo Boys crisis in Ikorodu, Lagos?
Assuming we had taken this kind of initiative in the past, the job of the police would have been easy because the security of lives and property is beyond the conventional security agencies. Those you want to secure, you should have a very good relationship with them. Even some groups, even beyond the OPC, like the NGOs and civil society groups, have a role to play. There should be a relationship between them and the security agencies.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police of Lagos State was very anxious to make sure that he stops the menace of these Badoo Boys and we agreed that we will work together. I told them that let me call the six co-coordinators in Ikorodu, they will be better informed on the situation. We will then all together sit down and strategise and see how to stop this menace of Badoo. We held another meeting on Friday before last. That was what led to the operation on Saturday. It was a successful operation; in the process, about 138 people were arrested. From the information we got from the police, a panel was set up on Sunday. About 41 innocent persons were released. I also got to know yesterday that another 40 were released. The others are being held on the suspicion of committing different crimes. They may not all be Badoo. They are being charged and remanded in prison custody. That is the situation.
From your findings, what do you think led to the rise of these Badoo Boys in that axis?
Even before we met with the Police, our leaders in Ikorodu had been informing us about Badoo Boys in the last two years and that they were predominantly ritualists, and that it goes beyond the boys that carry out operations. We don’t know those behind them but we are suspecting some prominent Nigerians. From our findings, they use stones to smash and kill their victims, not guns or machetes; they also use a very big stick to kill people, like the pestle used for pounded yam. After killing their victims, they will take their blood or some vital parts of their bodies. So, it is purely a ritual activity and it has been happening for over two years.
However, it would have been very difficult for us to come in because they could easily write fictitious petitions against us to the police. So, when the police came and asked us to collaborate, we were confident to support. I can assure you that before the next operation, a lot of information will come to the fore because we have designed the operations on committees which I will not mention here, on how we can pass information to the police. We don’t have the power to try; we don’t even have the power to investigate. All we can do is to give information to the police or apprehend them, and hand them over to the police as agreed, and to even inform the police where they are staying, because most of the operations are through the information from our leaders.
Having said that, we have to look beyond Badoo. There are a lot of criminal activities going on in Ikorodu; the issue of vandals, kidnapping and it is a base for recruiting secret cultists. In the entire Lagos State, Ikorodu boosts of about 25 to 30 per cent of the secret cults in the state. Let me tell you this, a lot of bad things are coming from these secret cults. It is unfortunate that secret cults have left higher institutions, what we have now are brutish secret cults that have left the campuses and found their way into the society, outside the campus. I think something needs to be done by our government.
You alluded to the fact that beyond the boys that have been causing havoc in the Ikorodu area that we call Badoo Boys, that there are people behind them, how can this current operation be done in such a way that even those behind them will be apprehended?
The operation has started and 138 people were arrested. There are some pieces of information that I cannot divulge to you as regard the operation, as I wouldn’t like to sabotage what the police are doing. I can assure you that information has been coming since Saturday to some of our leaders, for onward dissemination to the police. Definitely, within a short time, and the determination of the police, some drastic actions will be taken to curb the situation and more revelations will come out.
There are allegations that people are taking laws into their hands over the Badoo issue, what do you have to say about these alleged killings of innocent people?
That is why before we came in, we made sure we had the cooperation of the police. We are not doing anything outside the operations of the police. Whenever our members go to the home of a suspect, they go with the patrol, in joint operation with the police. That was the instruction we gave to them. This is because I know many Nigerians, when you are assisting them, they will be questioning it. Nigerians, when they see you doing 100 good things, if there is mistake in one, they question the others you have done very well. I read on Facebook that a person the community suspected to be a Badoo Boy was lynched and that the person was an MC. Anybody that takes law into his or her hands, should be arrested by the police. We that are assisting the police, anybody that operates outside the law, should be arrested. Those doing a good job should be encouraged.
We should not say because a community made a mistake, then we over-generalize. People should be very careful, especially in a place where there have been operations, they should be very careful moving through that area. Some of the information was that the Badoo Boys use white jeep to go on operation and that they normally put black oil on their bodies, and according the information I read, they saw engine oil and the guy came with something like a white jeep. Not withstanding, I will advise the public to investigate very well and the issue of lynching or burning suspects is not the answer. They should be handed over to the police, because even though the person is a suspect, or a criminal, when you kill him, you have killed a possible source of rich information that could have led to the arrest of other suspects. So, you don’t kill except under self-defence.
I believe if we are talking about some people taking laws into their hands, we must be careful not to frustrate the ones helping us; I mean those who don’t take laws into their hands, because Nigeria is a ‘one-way traffic’.
We were told that there were traditional rites and it was after the rites you started apprehending these people, what role did the rites play?
By us?
No, not by you. We read in the news that traditional rulers in Ikorodu said they would carry out rites just before the joint operation…Okay, let’s put it this way, did you do your own rites too?
If I did my own rites, I won’t tell you. No way, I won’t tell you that I did or did not, but we believe in it. That is our strategy. But the traditional rulers, there is not much they could do on this issue. It is so funny that when they were holding that meeting, they couldn’t carry OPC along. We were watching and looking. I am a traditional chief of Ikoroduland. I was given a chieftaincy title by the late Ayangburen. I believe if it were the time of the late Ayangburen, he will not call a security meeting excluding the OPC.
Our leaders were complaining that they were not being carried along. I said wait, I am a chief in Ikorodu, if they don’t carry you along, step aside. I was given Akinrogun of Ikoroduland. At last, we called to help in the rescue of Ikoroduland. I don’t have any house in Ikorodu. I don’t have property in Ikorodu. I only bought land and sold it. I am a chief in Ikorodu but the Kabiyesi did not call me for any meeting and did not call our leaders. But that not withstanding, he is trying his best but Kabiyesi should know that old friends are better than new friends. You don’t underrate even a group that has just 20 people in a local government. They can be useful in one way or the other, not to talk of OPC that has more than 10,000 members in Ikorodu. No matter the differences they may have over issues of land, it should not extend to lives and property.
They did not use the group they have in their local government but the police came and decided to use OPC because the matter of Badoo Boys is highly spiritual. The police know that it goes beyond modern arms and ammunition. The issue of Badoo is highly spiritual, and they know that OPC is spiritual. That was one of the reasons for the collaboration. Our meetings last week Wednesday and Friday have solved 60 to 70 per cent of the issue of Badoo because the criminals have no where to run to again. Now, my members have confidence that we can work for Nigerians. I think the decision by the Commissioner of Police to involve us was the right one.
Your assurance to the people of Ikorodu?
It is only God that can give 100 per cent assurance, but as a human being, as a good Nigerian, as someone who believes in law and order, peace and tranquility, I can assure them that with their cooperation, the Badoo Boys will be flushed out of Ikorodu.
You are giving a timeframe?
Yes, within two months, they will be totally flushed out of Ikorodu.
