How vigilance group thwarted man’s attempt to dump toddler into lagoon

In the early hours of Friday 2 August, 2013 a man who simply identified himself as Ishola was apprehended by some night guards while allegedly trying to dump the remains of a toddler into the lagoon. On his arrest, the night guards reportedly handed the suspected ritual killer to a combined patrol team of soldiers and policemen.


The incident reportedly occurred at Majidun area along Mile 12-Ikorodu expressway around 2:15 a.m.

It was said that Ishola had driven a black SUV to the scene. He had another man sitting beside him in the vehicle.

After pulling his car to a halt, Ishola and the other occupant reportedly alighted and walked towards the Majidun bridge which was some metres away. Having starred into the dark night for several minutes and assuring themselves that no one was in sight, it was reported that the two men moved back into the car.

Moments after, Ishola reportedly got out of the car and opened its boot. He reportedly dragged out a big sized polythene bag, otherwise called Ghana Must Go bag. But unknown to Ishola and his partner, some three night guards were apparently retiring under a kiosk not far from the bridge and immediately noticed Ishola’s SUV as it advanced eventually came to a halt close to the bridge.

So, upon sighting the two occupants of the car alighting and walking briskly towards the bridge, the guards kept their cool and watched events unfold. They did not have to wait long before they realised why the two men were there at that time of the day.

Ishola reportedly dragged the big bag towards the edge of the bridge and attempted to dump it into the Lagoon. But just as he was about shifting his position to throw the bag into the water, the three guards reportedly yelled at him, urging him to refrain throwing the bag into the water, while they raced towards him. It was also reported that a bemused Ishola remained where he was until the guards got to him.

One of the guards, who preferred anonymity, narrated that when asked what was contained in the bag, Ishola told them it was dirt, but the guards were unconvinced by the latter’s explanations. According to the guard, “It was like a drama before our eyes.

We had gone round the area as part of our work and were relaxing inside a kiosk there when we saw the car pulled up by the roadside. Initially, I personally thought they had flat tyres or that something was wrong with the car. But we remained where we were and watched was happening. “Moments after they had parked the car, we saw two men came out of the car and walked towards the bridge and looked left and right as if watching to see if anyone was watching them.

At that stage, we suspected that something was amiss. “It was not long before the two men walked back into the car and this man just got out of the car again and went to the boot and dragged down a big Ghana Must Go bag. As he headed towards the edge of the bridge to throw the bag into the water, we shouted at him not to or risk being shot,” he said. The guard claimed that initially when he was asked what was in the bag, Ishola told them it was dirt from his house. But the guards appeared unmoved by the man’s explanations.

The guard continued: “Because we were suspicious of the man’s explanation we asked him to open it but he refused. When he would not open it, one of us grabbed the bag from him and opened it. We were shocked to see a dead baby boy wrapped with white cloth inside the bag.

When he realized that the game was up, the man knelt down and started begging us,” the guard said. Just as they were still questioning Ishola where he brought the dead boy from, a patrol vehicle of a combined military and police team, reportedly sped past and made a U-turn apparently on seeing the men who gathered by the bridge.

Once arriving there, the patrol team asked what the matter was and after narration from one of the guards, they reportedly took the man away with them. However, Ishola’s other partner in the vehicle reportedly denied knowledge of the consignment of the bag. The man was reported to have said that he was only asked to accompany Ishola to the scene because of the time of day it was, but never knew the content of the bag.

“We saw both of them came out of the vehicle first before they went back inside. The man could not claim not to know what they were going there to do,” the guard affirmed. One of the security operatives also reportedly ordered for the key to Ishola’s car and drove the car behind their Hilux van. A spokesman from the Lagos State Police Command told Saturday Mirror that the mater had not been reported at the station, but maintained that efforts would be made to locate the whereabouts of the arrested Ishola.