Mr Fatai Owoseni, the Commissioner of Police in Lagos, said on Saturday that the police were on the trail of a family which allegedly raised the false alarm that resulted in the killing of four persons in Ikorodu.
Owoseni told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the family already declared wanted had a fight with another family over an undisclosed matter, stressing that it raised a false alarm that the victims were members of the notorious Badoo cult.
“The police are after the family that raised the false alarm. We are investigating the case.” Owoseni said.
Sources had earlier told NAN that four persons, who were branded to be members of the notorious Badoo cult group in Adamo area of Ikorodu, wereon Friday lynched by residents.
Members of the public, however, later discovered that the slain persons were not members of the notorious cult group but land speculators.
NAN further learnt that three houses, two vehicles and motorcycles were set ablaze in a reprisal attack by colleagues of the slain persons.
An unnamed person was said to have started a building project on Thursdayin Araro area of Adamo in Ikorodu.
Some land speculators from Agunfoye area reportedly invaded the building site and demanded for royalty from the owner of the building.
A source told NAN that the man refused to give the men the money and they went away with a threat that they were coming back
“True to their threat, they mobilised and returned on Friday but unknown to them, the owner of the building had also mobilised some youths in the area,” the source said.
A clash was said to have ensued between the land speculators and the residents, forcing them to flee from the site of the building project.
The land speculators were escaping when residents raised the alarm that they were members of the Badoo cult group.
It was also gathered that the residents had lied that the slain land speculators had earlier in the day killed a family of four people.
“More residents were mobilised and they reportedly chased the land speculators to where they were caught and beaten to stupor, with four of them eventually dying.
“The death of the land speculators sparked instant crisis as hoodlums from Agunfoye mobilised themselves and invaded Adamo where three houses were burnt.
“The Agungoye thugs, who were armed with assorted dangerous weapons including guns, matches and broken bottles, attacked residents of Araro, injuring some of them in the process.
“It took the intervention of policemen from the RRS and local divisions in Ikorodu before the angry hoodlums were dispersed,” a source told NAN.
Meanwhile, many residents of Araro have started relocating from the community following fears that the police might arrest them.
Some of them also expressed fears that the hoodlums from Agunfoye might return to avenge the death of the slain four people. (NAN)