by Ibironke Oluwatobi

One of the biggest promises made by Governor Akinwumi Ambode upon assuming the seat of Lagos State governor was that Lagos would be secure. He literally put his hand where is heart is to make this promise and people in all corners of Lagos put their trust in him. That was in 2015. Two years on, Lagos is indeed largely secure but Ikorodu is not.

While the rest of Lagos is enjoying relative safety, benefiting from the heavy investment in security by the Akinwumi Ambode administration, residents of Ikorodu spend their nights with one eye open.  In the Ikorodu community today, terror walks in different forms; one of the forms of terrorism against Ikorodu residents is kidnapping, another is the resurgent militant attacks, the most recent attacks by the guerilla group called Badoo, is the most destructive of the many security threats keeping Ikorodu residents on the edge.

Only recently has the fear of being a victim of kidnappers, reduced among Ikorodu residents. Before now, kidnapping was rife in the area, with several reports of people going missing, or maimed bodies found in public places. It was even more debilitating because innocent students were targeted and due to poor security effort, some of these students became kidnap victims. In the thick of this activity, three female students of Babington Macaulay Secondary School were kidnapped; some students and a staff member of Lagos State Model College Igbo-Nla were also kidnapped. Commendably, the state government and the security forces in a syndicated effort, managed to recover these kidnap victims. While these recoveries were duly celebrated, there were several other kidnap cases in the area that were never resolved. This year alone, there has been tens of unresolved kidnap cases in Ikorodu, one of them is the kidnap of several people along Mile12/Ikorodu expressway by gunmen who were said to have arrived through the creeks in boats. It was reported that the attack was the third in the space of two months, to show the dreadful frequency of kidnapping in Ikorodu.

A good number of the kidnap cases in Ikorodu, has been linked to militants dwelling in the riverine areas of the LGA, particularly the Ishawo Community. These militants, whose stoke in trade is oil theft, have clashed severally with residents of the area. In the process, scores of people have lost their lives and many others have been severely injured. The government has had to react by deploying a joint military task force to the area, but this measure only gave people of the area respite. After a period of stability and relative safety, the militants reappeared, attacking more destructively than before. In their recent attacks, they have engaged security forces in the area in fierce gun duels that have claimed several lives. In the attack of April 2017 on Woodland Estate, a place close to Ishawo creeks, 5 policemen and 2 soldiers were killed by the militant group. This is only one of the many militant attacks on Ishawo community and its locality. The residents of the area live daily in fear, and other parts of Ikorodu are beginning to catch the cold feeling.

Still, none of these attacks terrifies Ikorodu residents as much as that of the diabolic group called ‘Badoo’. Members of this group have been going across Ikorodu and some part of Ogun state at night, killing people in the most inhumane ways. Their pattern of killings shows that they mutilate their victims using stones and woods. It is even more painful because they attack families and spare no member in their thirst for blood. In April this year, the dreaded cult group attacked the family of Lucky Ebhodaghe, in Ibeshe Tutun community, Ikorodu; they killed him, his wife and son. Only recently, a woman and her daughter were murdered in Ikorodu reportedly by members of the same group. Some say they collect the blood of their victims for rituals, while some others have said that they take away body organs of their victims for sale. Both assumption hinges on terrorism of the bloodiest form. The fear of this group has consumed Ikorodu residents and has made the area unsafe, especially at night.

The sad existence of the Badoo group and problem of jungle justice almost caused the ruin of about 10 communities in Ikorodu, including Adamo, Aroma, Okegbodo, Mojoda, Eyin-ogbe, Ipinyewa and Olorunda among others. It happened that about four land speculators were killed by angry mobs on the assumption that they are members of the Badoo group. However, after investigating, the Lagos State Police command revealed that the deceased were land speculators after all. Then there was news of a reprisal attack on those involved in the killing of the land speculators, which caused people in Adamo and neighbouring communities to flee the area. In the reprisal attack, properties of all kinds were burnt and destroyed. It is feared that random killings may continue in Ikorodu, so long members of the Badoo continue walking the streets.

Generally, Ikorodu is faced with a hydra-headed security problem and the state government is expected to react spontaneously to these threats, to avoid having a death-dealing group that would grow to become a threat to not just Ikorodu but Lagos as a whole. While the government cannot be accused of neglect in this concern, as they responded by deploying security forces to the affected areas, this measure is proving too slow and ineffective against the fast consuming operations of a group like Badoo. The government and their agencies tasked with securing lives and properties of citizens would need to strategise on how to eradicate these threats and maintain the state of a safe Ikorodu, and Lagos in general. Else, these death-dealers would soon finish with Ikorodu and turn to other parts of Lagos.

It is unfortunate that Ikorodu, with its population size, has been exposed to endless attacks of different forms, causing the many residents of the area to live in constant fear. Gov Akinwumi Ambode is expected to intensify his effort at tackling the problems in the area. Under his watch, Lagos is relatively safe considering the state of things but Ikorodu, a major residential area in the state, remains unsafe for the many Lagosians inhabited in it. Governor Akinwumi Ambode might have kept his promise to other Lagosians but to residents of Ikorodu, he has failed to fulfil one of his biggest promises, which is security.

Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Ibironke Oluwatobi tweets @ibironketweets