A 20-year-old student of Lagos State Polytechnic, LASPOTECH, Surulere campus, Lateef Pedro, has escaped from ritualists’den.

The 100-level student, who recounted his ordeal with the ritualists, warned commuters plying the Shagamu, Ijebu-Ode-Lagos route to be very vigilant when they want to board a vehicle.

Explaining how he was kidnapped, Pedro said the driver of the vehicle he boarded from Ijebu-Ode pretended he was going to Lagos and told him the transport fare was N100 which he thought was cheap not knowing it was a bait.

He said the private car driver drove him and other passengers to the ritualists’ den inside a bush on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway just after descending the overhead bridge linking Abeokuta with Ibadan.

“I was going back to school in Lagos and while waiting at the Shagamu express road junction, a red Volkswagen Gulf car stopped with two occupants wearing white garment.

“When the driver told me he was going to Lagos and the fare was N100, three of us scrambled to enter the vehicle.

“But on the way, the driver suddenly veered into a bush path and when we protested, he told us he was trying to avoid traffic jam in Mowe and we believed him,” Pedro recounted.

“As we went deeper into the bush, the driver suddenly stopped beside a makeshift hut and two huge men came out armed with guns.

“They ordered us to alight and started mocking us, saying this was Lagos and that we were already dead.”

Pedro said they were ordered to remove their clothes while they wet their bodies with water and started flogging them.

“We were beaten until one of us collapsed and died.

“We were dispossessed of our belongings and they told us we would be sacrificed by 12 midnight.

“But at 8 p.m that night, the ring leader suddenly pointed at me and asked me to get up and leave the place because I had a stubborn spirit.

“He directed one of his aides to return my belongings and escorted me to a place. From there I was able to trek to Mowe town before I could get assistance and got back to Shagamu,” he said, appealing to the Ogun State Police Command to intensify patrol around the area.

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2010/09/23/poly-student-escapes-from-ritualists-den/