According to eyewitnesses, one of the victims held in the den, a pregnant lady, had on Wednesday night escaped. The victim ran into a house located about 200 meters away from the den and pleaded
with the occupants to save her from her assailants.
The pregnant lady, who reportedly claimed to have hailed from Abia State, told the occupants of the residence that her elder sister sold her and her unborn baby to the ritualists for N100,000. It was also gathered that the lady, who had just spent three days in the den, said that the ritualists told her that she would not leave until she was delivered of her baby for whom her aunty had been paid.
The shocking revelation, however, compelled the occupants to inform the police, who eventually raided the premises around 11p.m. and rescued three pregnant women and three young children, aged between two and four years, from the den.
As the news broke, hundreds of angry youth, suspected to be students from the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, MAPOLY, Ojere, Abeokuta, invaded the building and searched some of the rooms, which were already padlocked by security agencies. The youths were said to be looking for a cooler and a 20-litre jerry can allegedly filled with fresh human blood.
After a thorough search of the building, the youth emerged with ritual items, including an ivory plate containing fresh blood, coffin, effigy, scorpion, charms and others. Also discovered were international e-passport, identity cards of junior and senior secondary school students of Sacred Heart Catholic College, Oke -Ilewo, Abeokuta, who some people said might have been kidnapped and killed by the suspected ritualists.
Several male and female white garments of worshippers suspected to have fallen victims while going or returning from vigil were also recovered. After which the youth angrily set the building and two vehicles parked within the premises – a Toyota Camry car marked (Lagos) EKY 942 AJ and a Mitsubushi car marked (Lagos) AGL 971 BH ablaze.
It took the intervention of the Ogun State Fire Service personnel who raced to the scene in two vehicles to put out the fire. Scores of fierce-looking policemen who had been watching the angry youths summoned courage and started firing life ammunition and canisters at the youths to disperse them. Some of the youths were also arrested and whisked away to the police headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta.
The Police Deputy Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident, adding that two victims were rescued from the den. He said two others were also arrested in connection with the operation of the house of horror.
Oyeyemi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, gave the names of the rescued victims as Jennifer Goodluck, who is still nursing a two-month-old baby, while the heavily pregnant victim was simply identified as Oluchi, both indigenes of Abia State. The police spokesman also explained that one Muibat Yusuf and her brother, both indigenes of Kwara State, were arrested.
He said the matter had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Eleweran, for thorough investigation. The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikemefuna Okoye, who later visited the scene, however, urged members of the public to be watchful of happenings around them, particularly their neighbours.
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