There was confusion at Akorede Estate, Mile 2, in the
Abeokuta North Local Government Area of Ogun State on Sunday as a 20-month-old
baby, Opeyemi Ogundele, was abducted at his cousin’s naming ceremony.
The light-complexioned boy had accompanied her mother,
Elizabeth Ogundele, to the naming ceremony before his sudden disappearance.
According to Elizabeth, the wife of her brother, Olusola
Osunleke, had given birth to a baby girl, and Sunday was the day of her
christening. She (Elizabeth) said she attended the ceremony with her son.
It was gathered that while she was busy assisting the
brother’s wife with the preparation for the ceremony, she left Opeyemi with
other children in the corridor of the bungalow, where they were playing.
Elizabeth said when she came out later to take Opeyemi for a
change of clothes, she could not find him.
She said, “I asked other children and the neighbours, but no
one knew the whereabouts of Opeyemi. I ran out of the house, and searched the
neighbourhood, but I could not locate him.”
PUNCH Metro gathered that the
search for Opeyemi, however, led to the discovery of a suspected ritual
killers’ den, where fetish pots and human parts were found.
The den was located at about 100 metres away from Osunleke’s
residence.
Elizabeth said, “It was while I was searching for my son
that I passed by that house. I saw two men chatting and I asked them if they
saw my son, but they merely giggled.
“I left them and continued with the search for my son.
Later, the two men locked the door and left the house.
“A few minutes later, the residents stormed the house and
broke the door open. I was told that some fetish pots which contained human
parts, such as hands and intestines, were found in the house.”
The three-bedroom bungalow, with detached two-bedroom boys’
quarters, allegedly belonged to a herbalist, Chief Olasile Ifayemi, the
Jagunmolu Elegun Egba.
The boys’ quarters were allegedly used as shrine.
The youths in the area on Monday tagged the house a ritual
killers’ den and attacked it, destroying the ceiling boards, doors,
refrigerators, masquerades, fetish pots and charms.
Names, such as Bose, Damilola Seun, Bose, Dupe, Esther and
Toyin, were written with white chalk on the outer wall of the boys’ quarters,
directly over a clay pot, filled with darkish water.
Photographs of white men on photocopied papers littered the
ground. Also seen on the frontage of the building were clothes, bras, pants and
other apparels. There were also children’s clothes, bags and women make-up kits
in the building.
Elizabeth believed that his son must have been a victim in
the hands of the two men she saw earlier in the house. She called on Nigerians
to come to her aid and rescue her son alive.
She said,”My son will be one year and eight months on
Wednesday, July, 29. I appeal to all Nigerians to help me locate my son.”
But the state Commissioner of Police, Abdulmajeed Ali, said
there was no link between the disappearance of the toddler and the discovery of
the alleged ritual killers’ den.
He said the police had, however, commenced investigations
into the matter.
He said, “The boy was abducted yesterday (Sunday), but the
building that was discovered has no relationship with the boy and other human
parts that were found at the site.
“Already we have commenced investigation into the matter and
we will let you know what really happened after our investigation.”
Our correspondent noticed that a detachment of armed
policemen and men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad had been deployed in the
area to maintain security.
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