Women Found Dead by Roadside, Private Parts Removed in Ikorodu

Residents of Atele Street in the Anibaba community, Ikorodu, Lagos State on Tuesday woke up to find two naked dead women, who were dumped by the roadside.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the women, whose identities had yet to be known, also had their breasts cut off, while their private parts were removed.

The shocked residents tried in vain to locate the families of the deceased women.

According to them, the incident was the second time in two weeks that mutilated bodies of women 
would be found in the area.

Just last Monday, six women were found dead in a canal in the area on Saturday, December 5.

It had been reported that their decomposing corpses were thereafter removed by officials of the Lagos State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit, and deposited in a morgue in Yaba.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joe Offor, had told PUNCH Metro that the relatives of the women had yet to show up, adding that the police were investigating the cause of the women's death.

Now again, on Tuesday, two women were found by the roadside, stripped naked and mutilated.

It was gathered that some of the residents reported the matter at the Ikorodu Police Division and to the Rapid Response Squad.

Officials of SEHMU were said to have been invited to the area again to attend to the corpses.

Speaking with PUNCH Metro, a resident, who gave her name only as Iyiola, said the faces of the deceased were not familiar to any of the residents.

She said:

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>  "The spot where we found these women on Tuesday is just some distance away from the canal. The bodies were dumped behind a house on the street.

> "Just last week, six women were picked from a canal in this area. The bodies were found after a foul smell pervaded our area. On Tuesday, we were shocked to find two fresh corpses. We strongly suspect that the women were killed by ritual killers.

> "The bodies were stripped naked, while their breasts and private parts had been cut off. When are we going to stop seeing dead bodies?"

Another resident, who identified herself as Iya Sarah, said:

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>  "The police and the community development association must do something about these killings. There is obviously a serial killer in the community. One of the corpses found was that of a lady, who was stripped of everything."

PUNCH learnt that some residents had written letters to the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, the state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, and the National Human Rights Commission in Abuja to investigate the spate of killings in the area.

The police spokesperson, Offor, could not yet be reached for comment, as his phone rang out.

However, the Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Ministry of Heath, Mrs. Adeola Salako, confirmed to their correspondent that the SEHMU officials found two new corpses of women in the area on Tuesday.

"You are right about the two new corpses," she said in a text message.