A mob has beaten a mentally challenged man who was suspected to be a kidnapper in Abeokuta, Ogun State, amid increased cases of ritual killings in the state.
Not less than three cases of killing for money ritual have been recorded in different parts of the state within a month.
Last Sunday, a couple was caught with fresh human hands and breasts in the Leme area of Abeokuta, while two suspected ritualists were set ablaze in Oja-Odan in Yewa North Local Government Area on Saturday.
But on Tuesday, residents of Elite Road, Oke Lantoro area of Abeokuta metropolis, descended on the yet-to-be identified man on the suspicion that he was a kidnapper.
The young man was seen loitering around some pupils at about 8am on Tuesday when the rsidents who suspected him pounced on him and beat him to a pulp.
A witness said the mob was about setting him on fire when the police stormed the scene and whisked him away.
The witness said, “It was a pathetic case because people who didn’t know what his offence was joined in the beating. I felt so sorry for him because it took the insistence of the police to take him away from the scene where he had already been tied up to be burnt.
Another witness, Nasir Habib, said the victim responded to questions earlier with a stable mind, adding that the beating might have affected him mentally.
Habib said, “I felt really sorry for him, I was shocked because he wasn’t like that when the people started beating him. When the police were taking him away from that place, I really felt like crying.
“Our people are fond of jungle justice. If not for the police, he might have been set on fire.”
The police spokesman, in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident.
Oyeyemi reiterated the command’s warning against jungle justice, saying culprits would be made to face the full weight of the law.
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