The Ogun State police command has warned residents of the state against carrying out jungle justice on criminals in the state.
The warning followed the lynching of two suspected ritualists in Oja-Odan in the Yewa-North Local Government Area of Ogun State by a mob on Saturday, February 12.
The two suspects identified as Idowu Afolabi and Johnson Adebiyi, were caught by some youths in the area with fresh human parts, and they were handed over to the policemen at Oja Odan divisional headquarters by some residents.
It was learnt that some irate crowd later stormed the police station, overwhelmed the operatives on duty, and forcibly marched the suspects out of their cells and set them ablaze in front of the station.
The state commissioner of police described the action of the irate crowd as barbaric and unlawful, He said he would no longer tolerate such in the state.
A statement signed on behalf of the command by the state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi on Sunday, read in part:
“While the suspects were being interrogated in the station, some unscrupulous elements went and mobilized large number of people who invaded the station aggressively, overwhelmed the police personnel on duty and subsequently hijacked the suspects, beat them to death and set their corpses ablaze.
“In view of the incident, the command wishes to sound a note of warning to those who are always in the habit of taking laws into their hands to desist from such uncivilized behaviour as the command will henceforth be dealing with whoever carries out such action in the most decisive manner.
“A suspect remains a suspect until he/she is convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction no matter how grevious the crime he is suspected to have committed might be,” the statement read.
“Oyeyemi added that the CP has ordered a full scale investigation into the incident with a view to bringing to justice those who participated in carrying out the barbaric and unlawful killing of the suspects.
“The CP appealed to members of the public to have confidence in the nation’s criminal justice system and desist from self-help as such is alien to the law of the land.”
