By DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA — RESIDENTS of Abeokuta, capital of Ogun State  yesterday, ignored police warning not to take laws into their hands  in Saje area of  Abeokuta North Local Government area when an unidentified man, suspected to be a  ritualist, was set ablaze by  irate mob.

He was said to have charmed a school girl and made her insane before he was caught and set ablaze.

An eyewitness,  who simply identified himself as Godwin, told our correspondent that the man was not a resident of the area, but had been loitering around there for the past two days.

He said: “We have been seeing him around here since Sunday but we thought he came to celebrate Easter with someone.

“But around 6:35pm,we were relaxing when we  heard the noise from the bridge side. When we got there, the man had been attacked by some boys.

“We were told that he sprayed a perfume onto the a lady’s face, whom we met wriggling in pains and behaving abnormally. We asked him to give the young girl the antidote but he refused.

“The action infuriated the boys who were still worried over  the arrest of some boys yesterday by the police at Ijaiye area. So, they decided to deal with him before the arrival of the policemen.”

Vanguard, however, gathered that the girl is a secondary school student and was  with her elder sister when the man approached them, asking directions to  a street and in the process, allegedly hypnotised the girl. When policemen from various stations arrived the scene, the remains of the man was still burning.

It was revealed that the lady was yet to regain sanity as she was taken away by some relatives.

At press time, security agencies were seen in the area to avoid a reprisal attack.