Victims Recount Horrors In Ibadan Forest.

About 20 bodies of people believed to have been killed for ritual purposes were discovered, yesterday, in Soka, Oluyole local government area of Oyo State. Also, 18 men and five women, believed to have been bewitched and bound with fetters in a dungeon, were found and rescued. The rescued victims looked emaciated. One of the women was said to have been delivered of a baby who was sold to a waiting buyer among those who always thronged the secluded area at night to buy human parts. Some of the captives were too weak to tell their stories.
It was gathered that some Fulani cattle rearers grazed their cattle in the bush around the area. A suspect identified as Akeem Isiaka (38) was arrested in connection with the incident and taken to Sanyo Police Station. Containers and wells containing human parts including skulls were also discovered in the bush. A woman, Titi Adeniyi, who managed to speak, said she had been held captive for more than two years.Another captive, Tunji Alabi, who said he was a bus conductor before he became a victim of the ritualists, could not say much. One of the victims that were rescued by the police at Soka forest, Ibadan, Oyo State, which is believed to be a ritual killers’ den, said she was kidnapped in September 2013.
The victim, whose name is being withheld for security purpose, is currently recuperating with seven other victims in Adeoyo Hospital, Ibadan.

They were taken to different hospitals in the city, with eight of them – four men and four women – in Adeoyo Hospital. The woman, who was still weak from her experience, told PUNCH Metro that she knew she left her home in September and since then could not remember anything until Saturday when she was rescued. She said, “I remember that I left my home in Okebola and was going to Challenge. I entered a taxi and that is the only thing I can remember until police rescued us yesterday (Saturday).” When asked whether she did not see her captors killing people and selling their parts, she said, “I think such thing happened, but it did not really register because my mind was blank. “I can recollect seeing people falling down, I can remember that some were taken away and they never returned, but really, it did not mean anything to me until Saturday. It was as if I woke up from a slumber.” At this point, the victim countenance changed as if she went into a trance. Many questions asked by our correspondent went unanswered. The victims were yet to regain their full strength. They muttered words that were disjointed, but the nurses said they would regain full mental and physical ability. They said two days of treatment was not enough to cure them completely, having been chained and maltreated for a long time.

 No doctor was around to attend to our correspondent, but it was gathered that two of the victims were able to give their names. Families whose members had been missing on Sunday besieged the forest where captives, skulls and decomposing bodies were found with the hope of finding them there. One of such is the Oguntade family. The family spokesman, Kehinde, said their father, Isaac Oguntade, 95, left home in the Gbongan area of Osun State on December 31, 2013, but never returned. “He is an old man, but still strong. He was a retired teacher and he was going to a bank on Osogbo Road on the day we last saw him. “We have searched everywhere in vain. When we heard of this discovery, we came down to see if our father could be one of the victims, but we could not find him here,” said Kehinde. A police report, dated January 14, 2014 and signed by one Inspector Akinlade Lawrence, confirmed his claim. Also, hundreds of angry youths visited the forest, unleashing mayhem on visitors and herdsmen who graze their cattle in the area.
Punch News/Vanguard.