A 21 year old man, Elijah Adisa, who was accused of sodomising teenagers for ritual purposes, narrowly escaped being lynched by a mob at Amai Street, Amukoko, on Thursday morning. According to residents of the street, Mr Adisa, who was revered as a man of God, had been engaging in that act for a long time but luck ran out of him last week when his neighbours discovered he was having sex with one of the boys.
"We rushed to his house but he saw us coming and jumped the back fence of his house and ran away," said a resident of the street who did not want to be named. Mr Adisa was sighted on Thursday morning in the area and it took the timely intervention of the elders in the community to rescue him from a gathering crowd that had descended on him. He was subsequently taken to the house of the Baale (community leader) of the area where some of the youth in the area continued to torture him.
Hypnotic Act
Eyewitnesses accused Mr Adisa of hypnotising the boys before sleeping with them on a white cloth spread on the floor in his apartment.
Azeez Kareem, one of the boys who admitted being a victim of Mr Adisa's sexual acts, narrated what he experienced in his house. "One day we were going to the field to play football when this man called us. He asked our names and our religion, I said Islamic and my cousin said Christian. He said I should leave. I went and came back and they were preaching. I don't know what they are talking," said Master Azeez, 17.
"One day, I just enter the house and I saw one boy. He told the boy to go outside. He then said I should go and buy Atare (Alligator pepper). When I came back he said I should pull my clothes and lie down on the floor, there was a white cloth on the floor. I don't know what he was doing. When he did that finish, he said I should eat the alligator pepper but I did not eat it."
Residents said that Azeez's cousin, Tunde, who had moved in with Mr Adisa for several weeks, had become a changed person in recent times. "I just came back from school to see that my brother has started living with him. I didn't know him before. I asked my mother that this person that my brother is living with, did he know him somewhere before? She said no, that he is a prophet of God, that God sent him to help the boy. That was the first time I would meet that terrorist (Mr Adisa)," said Wale Razak, Tunde's elder brother.
Tunde was unavailable at the time of the incident; he had gone to write his General Certificate Examination papers. "He (Tunde) used to be a very noisy chap but since he began living with the terrorist he became a very quiet person, he changed completely. And we were thinking the man was really preaching to him, we never knew he was using juju on him."
Admission and Denial
In absolving himself of any wrong doing, Mr Adisa denied indulging in any ritual act. "Whatever they say, it is only God that really knows the truth. I did not run away, I went to the mountain to pray, at Osogbo. I only make sex with them," said Mr Adisa. "I started doing it just this month and I've slept with only two boys. There is nothing like ritual. I don't force them nor give them money and I don't spread anything on the ground."
The beatings that Mr Adisa received from the mob, prompted him to excrete on himself; and the gathered youth proceeded to rub his mouth on the excreta before stripping him naked. "It is very very bad and they say he is using it for money rituals. It has been going on for long but they just brought the matter to my attention and we have to take it very serious," said Jide Saliu, the Baale of Alafia.
"I have called the police under my jurisdiction. I will hand over everything to them. And I've talked to the Oba of Ijora and he said I should take the matter serious." It was gathered that police officers from the Pako Police Post, Amukoko, arrived the scene later and took Mr Adisa away for questioning.
By Ben Ezeamalu - 234next.
