According to Punch, the usual time for such rites was between 12 am and dawn. However, the decision to unveil it around 7 pm caused many to panic and run in different directions in a bid to avoid physical contact with the deity.
A resident, Yusuf Hashimiu who witnessed the scary incident, told newsmen from Punch that he had gone to report the incident at a police station close to the area but was detained instead.
Yusuf lamented, “I was in the mosque when I suddenly saw people running helter-skelter because the land grabbers brought out the Oro deity around 7 pm. The land grabbers were about 40 and a lot of people, including women and non-indigenes, were at the Siun Market. I had to contact the monarch, Oba Lawrence Odeyinka, to know why he allowed the deity to be brought out during the Ramadan period, but he said he knew nothing about it.
“Because we didn’t want to confront the hoodlums, we went to report at the Obafemi-Owode Police Station and officers were mobilized to the scene of the incident. The officers were even assisted by soldiers and four of the land grabbers were arrested. The police were supposed to charge them to court, but because the court did not sit, the land grabbers were released on bail and were given a date to report back to the station for the case to be charged to court.
“All of a sudden, everything changed and we were told to come to the Zone 2 Command headquarters in Onikan, Lagos, as the case had been transferred there, and when we got to Zone 2, I and one other resident were detained on claims that we used soldiers to assault the land grabbers.”
Another witness, Afolabi Awaye, who dubbed the ritualists as land grabbers, bemoaned the decision to prosecute Yusuf and him, adding that the police officers connived with the touts in the attack.
Afolabi said, “We were detained for three days at the Zone 2 headquarters just because we reported the land grabbers to the police and they had a joint patrol with the soldiers to arrest them. The land grabbers used their influence at Zone 2 to arrest us for complaining about what they did. Now, we are being charged to court; we want the government to come to our rescue.”
Confirming the incidence, police spokesperson, DSP Hauwa Idris, explained that the attack must have been as a result of the unending crisis between two families in the community, over pieces of land.
Idris said, “Two families have been fighting over land in the area. One of the families came to the Zone 2 to complain and the other family was invited. The officer in charge of the case informed the families that the police would not get involved in land matters and gave a date for both families to visit the command so as to advise them on what to do.
“But, when they went back to their community, the family that complained at the Zone 2 was attacked by the other family. The other family used soldiers to beat and injure them and it was the soldiers who took the matter to the Obafemi-Owode Police Station.
“The officer in charge of the case at the police station could not charge the attackers to court, because the court did not sit and they were given another date. So, the assaulted family reported back to the command what happened and the officer in charge at the Zone 2 invited them and decided that he was going to charge all of them to court for assault.”
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