A yet to be identified man, believed to be in his 30s, has been lynched by a mob in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital for allegedly harvesting human feaces from Matthew Street neighbourhood in the town.
The incident had caused confusion in the state capital as people in various parts of the town had reported that the suspect was being led round parts of the state capital, including Okeyinmi, Matthew Street, Ijigbo and others, before taking him to Odo Ado, where he was lynched.
Some other witnesses at the scene where the man they said was suspected to be a ritualist was lynched, however, claimed that he was killed allegedly for consuming the feaces.
When newsmen arrived at the scene, the victim had been partly burnt and was lying dead on the street, in a part of Odo Ado, called Red Roof Junction.
People at the area claimed that the man had earlier been paraded in parts of the state capital, including the palace of the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe.
Sources claimed that the man was sighted by an unidentified elderly woman, who raised the alarm which prompted youths of the area to arrest him.
They stripped him naked and while beating him, the sources added, the victim sought help by mentioning some clergymen he claimed to know in the town.
The mob had followed him to a white garment church at the Odo Ado Area, but when they couldn’t get the clergyman the victim had named, at home, he allegedly took to his heels but the pursuing mob caught up with him at the Red Roof Junction.
The mob had pulled down the roof of the church and destroyed its property, including all they found at an adjoining room the neighbours had described as “the church office.”
None of the witnesses at the neighbourhood could identify the victim, with all of them directing newsmen to Matthew Street, saying “that’s where the thing started.”
The witnesses at the Red Roof had dispersed when newsmen arrived at the area, refusing to speak and claiming they could be victims of police raid when the security agents arrive to investigate the incident.
All the witnesses could give as reason for the killing was “they said he as gathering feaces into a bag at Matthew area, and they said it was an elderly woman that spotted him and raised the alarm.”
The witnesses further claimed that the man was lynched on the suspicion that he was a ritualist.
The Public Relations Officer of the Ekiti State police command, Mr. Caleb Ikechukwu, could not be reached for his comments on the incident as his telephone handset is switched off.
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Odo Ado said he was not at the office and had not been briefed of the incident, saying “we are currently busy where the Vice President is having an event.”
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