“Ibadan horror den” Tundu kubwa ambako mateka uingizwa humo kwa ajili ya matambiko ya kichawi huko Nigeria. Humo kuna mifupa, mafuvu ya binadamu na makaburi waliozikia mateka waliokufa (soma story zaidi na angalia picha)
A home where kidnappers kept their victims was recently discovered in Ibadan Oyo state. Photos taken at the 
Ibadan, the political capital of the South-West geo-political zone, is gradually turning into a land of ritualists.
Last Saturday, a team of security operatives uncovered a hideout in the Idi Mangoro area in Soka community, Ibadan, where about 15 people in chains, believed to have been kidnapped, were found inside an abandoned property.
Among the various shocking finds, were human bones, assorted guns and cutlasses, as well as many shoes, handbags, clothes and other accessories found in two containers which stood beside the eight-room building.
Identification cards with names such as Mr. Rafiu Alamu (tanker driver) and national identity and First Bank ATM cards belonging to one Mrs. Janet Motunrayo Lemo, were also found at the scene. The adjacent building, it was gathered, also belonged to an Ibadan-based plastic manufacturing company.
Barely 24 hours after the shocking discovery at Soka’s evil forest, a suspected ritualist was nabbed by members of the public at the Ring Road area of Ibadan. Before nemesis caught up with him, the suspect, who has been staying by the side of the pedestrian bridge at the popular Oni and Sons bus stop, was said to have been perpetrating the evil acts for some months.
A witness who spoke Weekly Trust on condition of anonymity, said luck ran out on the middle-aged man when some residents of the area who had been suspecting his movements, discovered his notorious act and decided to deal with him with the support of the police. And when he was thoroughly searched, more than 400 campaign posters of a Labour Party (LP) aspirant were among the items found under the bridge where he kept his loot and dangerous weapons. Bras and pants of different sizes were also found with other female clothes, believed to be those of his victims.
Another witness said human bones and parts like tongues were also found at the scene. The suspect was later quizzed by the police from the Oluyole police station just as people thronged the location to catch a glimpse of the items found on him.
Even though the police surveillance teams had arrested four men who claimed to be security guards at the suspected kidnappers den in the evil forest, the people of Ibadan are yet to recover from the shocking revelation of the horror scene where hundreds of innocent citizens are believed to have lost their lives.
One Sulaiman Tijani, was arrested on Wednesday at Soka forest, Ibadan, where scores of decomposing bodies and body parts were uncovered last Saturday. Another man, who appeared to be a lunatic, was saved by a team of policemen when angry youths descended on him at a point close to the site. The youths said he was pretending to be insane and could be one of the kidnappers who operated in the forest. Tijani was apprehended by security operatives, including men of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC). The man emerged from a part of the forest, holding a polythene bag which he said contained sachets of juice, explaining that he usually picked up the juice from a dump site beside a company located at the edge of the forest. But his explanation became suspicious as he said he was a poultry farmer in Ogun State.
Despite efforts by him to make himself understood, his explanation was incoherent and when it was difficult to piece together his statements, he was whisked away by the police. The man, who appeared to be a lunatic, was taken to Adeoyo State Hospital, Yemetu, Ibadan, but nurses were unable to say anything about his mental status while the police had yet to offer a statement on his arrest.
The Oyo state police public relations officer (PPRO), SP Olabisi Okuwobi-Ilobanafor, also noted on Thursday with concern that members of the public have been lynching people suspected to be ritualists, stressing that two mad men had already been lynched to death while no fewer than 10 others had been rescued from jungle justice since the incident occurred.
The officer also remarked that eight people suspected to be connected to the Soka forest of horror were in police net, while investigation was still ongoing.
Meanwhile, Governor Isiaq Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, who led members of the state executive council, forensic experts and all arms of security agencies in the state to Soka forest in Ibadan on Monday, has announced the immediate revocation of the Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) of those who originally owned land in the ‘horror forest’. After going round the horror scene and witnessing the gory remains of human beings, the governor expressed sadness at what he called man’s inhumanity to his fellow man. While describing the incident as most unfortunate, Ajimobi said the state government was taking over the land and directed that the bush be cleared.
True to the governor’s word, the demolition of buildings in the forest commenced as directed but was temporarily halted by a directive from the Oyo State police command that a forensic evaluation of the land must be done before the exercise could go on. The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Indabawa, said that should the demolition exercise be allowed to continue as earlier planned, concrete evidence that would help the police in their investigations would have been destroyed.
It will be recalled that the discovery of the ritualists’ den was made when some people who were looking for their missing family member, an Okada rider, stumbled on the isolated building situated in an undeveloped part of the sprawling community, and from where they were hearing voices. On entering the building, the people who made the discovery reportedly met the inmates who were highly malnourished with one of them looking like a skeleton, groaning in pain.
An inmate who gave his name as Tunji Alabi, said he was a bus conductor when he was abducted and brought to the house, where he added that he had already spent seven months in the place. Yet another one, Nafiu Shittu, while relaying his experience to newsmen who visited him at the Adeoyo State Hospital, Yemetu, said he was a native medicine seller with customers in the business districts of Gate and Iwo Road. According to him, he was at work when he was kidnapped and taken to the forest about four months ago. “I am a native of Ibadan, living in the Foko area of the city. I sold pile medicine to people. I was doing the business on the day I was kidnapped about four months ago. After going round the area where I had customers, I felt tired and decided to rest in the Gate area. Suddenly, a bus stopped by my side and two men came out and forced me into the back seat of the vehicle. That was all I could remember,” he recalled.
“When I regained consciousness, I saw myself in a room in the forest, chained to a wall. I was too tired to struggle and as the days passed by I became frail because I was not given anything to eat,” he added. Nafiu who insisted that he was not the only one in the building, said he was baffled as he regularly heard voices of people passing outside. He said there were other people, including young and adult women, who cried daily just as he saw dead bodies being taken out frequently.
Other victims, Wale Atoyebi from Ada in Osun State and Michael Ola, spoke with newsmen but they could only give their names while an elderly woman, Titi Dokpesi narrated how she got to the forest. Even though she claimed to be 45 years, Dokpesi had had the look of a woman in her 60s. “We were fed once a week. I was kept in the corner of a room, chained to the wall, so I kept to myself. I spent most of the time praying to God. I don’t know if anyone gave birth there, but people were dying,” she added.
Another suspect in police detention, who gave his name as Abideen Akanmu, said he was brought to the building by one Gbadamosi to watch over the house inmates. He added that Gbadamosi frequently brought in people who were unkempt and dirty looking. Meanwhile, the Soka community has already turned to a Mecca of sorts since Saturday, as people trooped in to catch a glimpse of the uncovered hideout.