- There’s no madman in Lagos – Police commissioner
Two suspected fake lunatics have been apprehend and severely beaten up at different locations in Lagos, for allegedly stealing personal items belonging to some residents of the state.
While one of the suspected fake madmen allegedly stole a bag containing an amount of money and mobile phone, the other was said to have also stolen a mobile phone.
One of the fake madmen was said to have been loitering around the Old Ojo Road and its environs before he committed the offence.
According to one of the eyewitnesses, who identified himself as Hamed Owolabi, “I usually see the fake madman, who would beg for money from whoever he cared to beg from.
“When you see him in his tattered clothes, which barely covered his private part, you would believe that the man was a complete mad man, not until this incident that I discovered that he was a fake madman, who disguised to steal whenever he had the opportunity.
“A woman selling food was relaxing on a bench while the fake madman was nearby. The woman kept her bag close to herself before she slept off. But unknown to the suspected thief, another woman was watching from the opposite. Suddenly, the thief took the small handbag containing a mobile phone and about N7,000 cash, and hid it inside a dirty and torn ‘Ghana must go’ bag. He did that before the woman watching from the opposite side raised the alarm.
“The fake madman began to run, but the youths in the area ran after him throwing missiles and other objects at him. When they caught up with him, they flogged him with sticks until he handed over the stolen bag. The irate youths searched his dirty bag and discovered that the fake madman had a dagger and dirty clothes concealed inside it. That was when the youths became angrier and gave him more beating.
“The woman, whose bag was stolen, even began to beg the youths to allow the thief to go and not to kill him because of what he stole from her. They flogged the man and he ran away towards the Badagry – Lagos expressway. Blood was gushing out from his head, neck and back,” Owolabi revealed.
In a related development, another fake madman, who stole a mobile phone in a woman’s shop, was also apprehended and given the beating of his life by an irate mob.
This fake lunatic was said to have at first, been seen sitting on the ground along the Agege Motor Road, Mushin, clutching a dirty black nylon bag.
He was said to have begged a woman operating a drinking joint for around the area for money, but the woman was said to have given him only N50.
The man feigning madness did not know that the woman was watching his mobile phone as she walked into the inner room.
According to an eyewitness, Ismaila Omotobi, “The woman screamed immediately she saw the fake madman taking her mobile phone from the table. The thief began to run away, but the men in the area ran after him with sticks and horsewhips. They flogged him after recovering the mobile phone from him.
“They suspected that the man was only pretending to be a mad man; so they decided to search his bag, which was oozing a bad smell. They saw dirty clothes and a small axe hidden inside it. They began to shout: ‘Ole! Ole! at him. He ran and they flogged and chased him towards Oshodi road. Many people you see pretending to be madmen are only disguising. Nothing is wrong with them. They are fake madmen,” Omotobi
asserted.
Corroborating the claims of some of the residents, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Imohimi Edgal, said that many of those dirty-looking destitutes and individuals roaming the streets in Lagos had other
missions.
Edgal said many of those roaming about as lunatics were only feigning to be mad to cover up their real motive and nefarious activities.
The police boss spoke while addressing a stakeholders’ town hall meeting in Apapa.
“Let me tell you, there’s no madman in Lagos. We only have fake madmen, who turn to lion in the night to attack innocent people. They are criminals feigning madness. They are not mad. Some detectives attached to the Pen Cinema Police Station, Agege, Lagos, were observing a particular fake madman. One day, they decided to conduct a search on him. You won’t believe that the so called madman was carrying a toy gun inside a dirty bag. We also recovered some other incriminating objects like charms from him. So, you have to be careful about them. They are robbers,” he
said.
Recall that on February 3, 1999, a cannibal and human parts dealer, Clifford Orji, was arrested under a busy bridge at the Toyota bus stop along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway in Lagos.
Orji did not only sell human parts, but also allegedly made barbecue of human flesh. He was alleged to be selling human parts for a fee, depending on the part his customers wanted.
But Orji was one fake madman nobody would believe to could be pretending to be so. He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He was allegedly abducting and killing innocent residents in the area at night until his cup became full and he was arrested, tried and he ended up in Kirikiri Maximum Prison, where he died in August
2012.
