How Disguised Kidnappers, Ritualist Hunt For Passengers In Ogun-Lagos

By Oladosu Oluwagbenga 

Ritualists, kidnappers, robbers, and rapists have now developed a new technique to track down unwary travellers and turn them into victims as government and security personnel work to end insecurity in Ogun State and Nigeria generally.

Theeagle’s research reveals that they are currently hiding their activities as commercial cyclists and cab drivers.

These fictitious business drivers are mostly among the Yorubas who are engage in “Sọọlẹ̀” (in popular culture) activities. Without using an identifiable parking lot, they pick up clients on the side of the road and transport them to their destinations.

The sọọlẹ̀ system is widely used on country’s main roadways. Some of these drivers use this tactic to avoid spending hours in line at authorized motor parks while waiting for passengers. The majority of travelers also dislike wasting valuable time waiting for other travelers to board their flights.

As they do not pay fees levied on their colleagues by transport union officials at motorparks, the sl drivers undercut their transit fares to recruit roadside passengers. It was learned that some of them earn more money than their coworkers at the parks. Roadside drivers are enjoyed by commuters on a tight budget, those in a rush, and those whose homes are far from the designated parks.

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“I board cabs by the road. I prefer it to going to parks where I will pay more and even waste my time. I think there is nothing bad about it,” a civil servant, Mordiya Adeyemi“I board cabs by the road. I prefer it to going to parks where I will pay more and even waste my time. I think there is nothing bad about it,” a civil servant, Mordiya Adeyemi said.

Theeagle’s results showed that some people have used this to kill, rape, or rob their victims.

Ritualists, kidnappers, thieves, and even rapists now pose as taxi drivers, tricycle riders, and okada riders to lure unsuspecting passengers into becoming their victims.

The wicked deed has reportedly grown very concerning, particularly on the routes connecting Abeokuta, Sagamu, and Ogere, Ijebu-Ode, Ibadan, and Lagos, among other places in Ogun state.

“The ritualists are out there to kill those innocent passengers for money-making rituals. The kidnappers will hold the passengers hostage for ransom, while the rapists only target women to forcefully have carnal knowledge of them and may even kill them.

“These criminals have their hideouts inside the forests along these roads. Most of them even operate with charms. The moment you enter their cars, you sleep off or lose consciousness. Some threaten their victims with guns. We are in a very difficult time. Everybody must open their eyes,” a driver on the Abeokuta-Iperu road told our correspondent anonymously.

The driver, who was in his 60s, recalled how the transport union task team had detained a ritualist who “admitted he used to sell a human head at the sum of N50,000.”

According to Theeagle, the Ogun State police command has alerted the public about the potential presence of an unnamed serial murderer who is rumored to be prowling the Remo axis of the State.

Abimbola Oyeyemi, a police public information officer in Ogun, claimed the serial murderer used to pose as an okada rider and select his intended female victims as passengers.

Such victims would be “brought to an isolated spot, raped and mercilessly murdered in cold blood,” according to Oyeyemi.

This was said as security personnel were looking for the assassins of the late Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, beauty queen. Whether or not the Remo serial killers have been apprehended since August is unknown.

In Ogijo, Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State, the police detained a bike rider and another person in the same month who picked up a female passenger and forcibly transported her to a building where she was gang-raped by three young males.

Idowu Adebayo, a 21-year-old okada driver from Sango-Ota, was detained by the So-Safe Corps after reportedly kidnapping, trying to rape, and killing a female passenger in the community of Ayegbe.

Around 4 am on June 22, a tricycle driver had sexually assaulted a female passenger and taken her money. Rasaq Tahoeed, 22, had picked up the passenger at the well-known Pakoto bus station traveling to Iyana Coker in Ifo, but the rider changed her destination after threatening to murder her if she didn’t comply, according to authorities.

A taxi driver named Tunde Bello was recently detained for reportedly kidnapping, raping, and demanding N140,000 from a female passenger along the Mowe axis of the route. The woman, who got into Bello’s taxi at around five in the morning, was assaulted and beaten until the driver diverted to Ibadan road and plowed her into a bush on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

“After raping her, he held her hostage and asked her to call her relations, who sent the sum of N140,000 to him as ransom before he let her go,” the police stated, adding that the suspect admitted the crime.

The police recently detained two ritualists who kidnapped Abdullahi Azeez, killed him, and then utilized his body parts in a ritual to get money. On June 8, the 40-year-old victim allegedly left his Kobape home, but he never came back. Although it is unclear exactly how Friday Abinya Odeh (21) and Poso Idowu (20) abducted him, there are rumors that he was likely taken away while in transit.

According to information provided by our correspondent, there are several instances of people going missing or being attacked after entering buses or cars along the side of the road.

“We have seen people who will come to our parks to say a member of their family is missing. Some people came to Kuto motorpark some time ago to say their relative was missing. We asked them where he boarded a cab and they said it was by the bridge. We told them that was sọọlẹ̀. Those vehicles are not registered, not traceable, the driver is unknown,” a Road Transport Employers Association leader said.