A suspected Badoo member, Chibuzor Igwe, 18, yesterday, revealed in chilling details how he and other members killed a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) last year at Igbogbo, Ikorodu area of Lagos State.
The pastor, Victor Kanayo, was attached to Finger of God Parish, Igbogbo.
He was murdered on November 26, around 7p.m., at his residence, along Offin, Igbogbo. Igwe and four other suspects, including a lady, Gift Akaeze, were paraded by the police yesterday.
Other suspects are Fatai Adebayo alias Alese, Samuel Akaeze, alias Samiti and Omotayo Abamoyegun. Adebayo is alleged to be the chief herbalist and was further alleged of being a kingpin of the gang. He is also alleged of being the person in charge of fortifying members before they go out for killing operations.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, displayed stones and bloodstained clothes allegedly recovered from the Badoo suspects. Speaking with journalists, Igwe disclosed the modus operandi of Badoo ritual killing group.
His words: “We usually spray a powdery substance on a target, while he is sleeping. The person will then fall deeper into sleep. Once we are sure the person is in a deep sleep, we would smash the person’s head with stone, and then scrub his blood with a white handkerchief.”
Recollecting how he met and joined the Badoo group, Igwe recounted: “After I was sacked from the factory where I used to work, I needed a job to sustain myself. That was why I went to meet Omotayo Abamoyegun. He is a friend. I wanted to work for him as a driver.
He advised me to wait for two weeks. After two weeks, he called me that he had a job for me. He said that the job was better than driving. It was then he introduced me to the Badoo group. I was forced to take an oath before I started working with them.
My first operation was the killing of the RCCG pastor at Igbogbo. They promised to give me N500,000 if I successfully carried out the operation. “It was Gift, the lady among us that showed us the pastor’s house.
Gift’s husband, Samuel, a welder, was the one who assisted us to break into the pastor’s house. Omotayo sprayed a substance on the pastor while he was still sleeping. I then used the stone to smash his head. I was given N20,000, instead of the N500,000. I was also given the pastor’s Asha Nokia phone.
They promised to balance me. I was leaving the scene when a local vigilante group arrested and handed me over to the police.” Imohimi, thereafter, prevented journalists from speaking to other suspects; he ordered that they should be returned to police cell.
Imohimi said: “The method used by the Badoo group is to hypnotise their victims while they are asleep. The victims would fall into a deep sleep, and then these Badoo members would smash the victim’s head with a grinding stone.”
Recounting the murder of another victim by the Badoo group, Imohimi said that on December 30, around 2:30p.m., the peace of Lagos State was disturbed at Alajo Close, Ibeshe, a suburb of Ikorodu, after three suspects invaded the home of late Shakiru Yekini’s compound. The invaders killed Yekini and injured his wife and their sixmonth- old baby.
Imohimi said: “The role of Abamoyegun in the gang is to spray the powdery substance into the house of their victim, which makes them fall into a deep sleep, after which another member of the gang will smash the victim’s head with a grinding stone. Having certified that the victim is dead, the suspects would use white handkerchief to scrub the victim’s blood for ritual purpose.
“Luck, however, ran out on them after one of the victims raised the alarm and vigilante men on duty quickly reacted. The vigilante men alerted policemen, who quickly cordoned off the area. Chibuzor Igwe was arrested at the scene.
He has made startling revelations, which led to the arrest of Abamoyegun and Akaeze. Please note that a grinding stone used to smash the victim’s head, smeared with blood was recovered at the murder scene and taken to the lab for forensic analysis to back up our evidence in court.”
Imohimi added: “Gift, who is the wife of Samuel, was arrested for allegedly supplying information to the suspects on where to strike. Abamoyegun confessed that he usually takes members of the group to Fatai Adebayo, an herbalist.
Adebayo specialized in fortifying the suspects and blessing their stones, which they would use for successful operations.” Imohimi disclosed that Adebayo had been arrested and his shrine, located at Ijebu Imosan, destroyed in an operation, which he led on Tuesday.
Imohimi further said: “The war against the suspected killers will not stop. The police will not relent until all the killers are brought to book. We use this opportunity to declare Alaka Abayomi Kamal wanted following a warrant of arrest issued by a magistrate’s court in Lagos.
He still remains wanted by the police.”
