Home/News/Feature/Murder For Money…Victims Of Ritual Crimes Tell Their Stories
Murder For Money…Victims Of Ritual Crimes Tell Their Stories

Virtually every day, many police stations
nationwide especially in the South West of the country are inundated
with reports of missing persons.
Available records show that less than 10 percent of such persons ever
returned home. A scary 90 percent of them was not found and the bodies
of a negligible number that were eventually seen, dumped either on the
roadsides, bush paths or inside gutters, mutilated and their vital
organs removed.
The only ‘offence’ of the majority of the victims of this cult of
Nigerians that incline their hearts to doing evil, is that they boarded
the wrong public transport especially commercial buses and taxis to
their intended destinations. There are also, cases of trusted loved ones
including fathers and children, who hacked one of their own to death
for rituals.
Perhaps the most celebrated of such cases in FESTAC area of Lagos
last year, was the brutal killing of a middle-aged man by his two elder
brothers who thereafter, kept his body inside a room in their apartment
and were selling its parts in bits until they were arrested.
Investigations by Sunday Sun revealed that the activities of these
syndicates of men and women who survive by denying others the right to
life, are on the increase. Until a few years ago, ritual killing was
rampant mainly in Lagos, Benin, Kano, Aba and Ibadan. These days,
similar horrible cases abound in most parts of the country.
Why ritualists are in business
Checks revealed that ritual killing cuts across both the low and the
rich in the society albeit, for varying purposes. The poor that wants to
get rich with effortless ease, is assured by native doctors, that he
could cross over to the other side where there is less dirt and more
sunshine, if he could bring listed human parts. On the other hand, the
superstitious rich and affluent in the society wants to acquire more
riches or political power are told that there can be no easier way than
to sacrifice the lives of fellow human beings. For these two groups and
their ilk, only the professional killer, who characteristically has no
feeling of mercy, is the guaranteed source of the needed body parts.
Dateline: 2006
Sometime in 2006, an aide of a former governor of one of the South
East states quietly eased himself out his plum job because he reported
for duty early in the morning one day and met his colleagues cleaning up
blood. One of them later confided in him that someone had just been
sacrificed for the ‘security’ of their boss. He feigned support for the
satanic act until he dumped the job. There was also the case of a baby
sacrificed by the wife of a governor of one of the states grappling with
Boko Haram insurgency, to secure her position.
From the North, West, East and the South South of Nigeria, Sunday Sun
correspondents reported that headhunters are on the prowl and an end to
their mindless operations might take time to come.
Ritual killing in South East for various reasons
In ancient times, ritual killing was alien to Igbo land except those
carried out to appease the gods. But with the passage of time and
development of new habits, especially the get-rich-quick attitude and
consequent obscene show of affluence, ritual murder became widespread in
the South East zone of the country as checks by Sunday Sun in the five
states of the zone revealed.
Evil Forest in Enugu
Petrus Obi in Enugu reports that an evil forest where suspected
ritualists dismember their victims was discovered in Enugu State
recently. Fresh and decomposing human parts were found in the forest
located at Inyi, Enugu Ezike in the Igboeze North Local Government of
the State.
It was suspected that victims were taken to the forest and butchered
by their assailants who in turn removed vital parts needed for
money-spinning rituals. In an attempt to end the evil practice in the
area, the people had petitioned the State government, urging it to
acquire the expanse of land belonging to the village shrine, Ogene
Mmili.
The natives that were worried over increasing cases of missing
persons in the community, demanded that those involved in the killings
should be exposed and punished.
Among the casualties was Miss Eucharia Abugu Eya who was abducted in
the street and later found dead in the evil forest with some parts of
her body missing.
It was gathered that Miss Gloria Ugwueke (35), and Caroline Odo Eje, a
widow with seven children were earlier victims of ritual killing in the
community.
However, it was the killing of Miss Edith Ijeoma Onu Ossai that
sparked off protests in the community. More than 1,000 women took to the
streets, demanding an end to the killings. Edith’s body had been found
without her heart, kidney and private part.
Reacting to the spate of ritual killings in parts of Igbo land, the
traditional ruler of Enugu Urban (Ogui Nike), Igwe (Dr.) Tony Ojukwu,
noted that such killings were alien to Igbo culture.
He traced the ugly trend to travellers from Igbo land that visited
other cultures and in the process, copied the practice of using human
heads to bury important personalities.
“It was in the course of travelling that our people encountered these
killings and tried to import it into Igbo culture; not that our culture
encourages kidnapping and killing people. It’s the people who travelled
out and visited some cultures where if a prominent person died, they
would keep the death secret until some heads were collected to bury the
person in strange belief that it add to the deceased’s prestige.
“Such cultures believe that the coffin of a great man must lie on top
of some human heads. His kinsmen would travel out or move into the
farms to behead people for burial of their dead. It was imported into
Igbo land.
“Even in this place, there were times if important persons died
non-adults were kept at home; they don’t go to fetch firewood or water
to avoid being beheaded. But civilization and Christianity has
restructured everything.”
Still in Anambra state, Dom Ekpunobi and Emma Uzor report that ritual
killings seldom occur in the commercial city of Onitsha, because the
area is dominated by businessmen, who believe in utilizing their time
and talent to create wealth instead of engaging in diabolical means of
making it in life. The fact, however, remains that those who found it
difficult to remain afloat through hard work resorted to violent crimes
such as armed robbery and kidnapping. Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka (Ogisi Igbo)
who spoke to Sunday Sun on the implication of ritual killing, said it
was an abomination for anybody to kill a fellow human being for ritual.
Chief Ezeonwuka posited that whenever such happens, the land is desecrated and there must be sacrifice to appease the gods.
He said that on no account should the blood of a human being be shed, pointing out that the gods decry such acts.
Ebonyi: Baby snatched from mother’s breast
From Ebonyi state, Goddy Osuji reports that cases of ritual murder
abound in the state and that several cases were yet to be resolved by
the police.
One of the most agonizing was the abduction of seven under-aged
children at Ishiagu community. Among them, was a nine-month old baby
snatched from its mother, Mrs Alice Nkwo while she was breast-feeding
the baby. The hoodlums later moved into the family’s bedroom and
abducted two other children aged between two and three years.
Bemoaning her losses, Mrs Nkwo said that her mind had not been at
rest because she could still hear the cries of her abducted children.
This and similar incidents prompted a peaceful protest by women in
Ishiagu community against rampant abduction of children for rituals.
Also, a 32-year-old nursing mother, Mrs. Nnenna Emmanuel watched
helplessly as some hoodlums forcibly took away her two children, eight
months old Chidubem Emmanuel and three-year-old Chiemelem Emmanuel on
December 24, 2012.
“It was on the Christmas Eve at about 4am, we were sleeping when we
heard the sound of a vehicle parking in front of our house. When the car
parked, I woke up and my little baby started crying. I carried him to
breast feed him while we waited to know the people parking their car in
front of our house at that time of the night. “Suddenly, they kicked our
door open and one of them entered the house, gave me a slap and
snatched my breast-feeding child from me. The other person broke into
the other room where my three-year-old baby was sleeping with his
grandmother and took him, and they rushed into their car and zoomed off.
“We raised the alarm but before our neighbours could come, they had
driven off. I noticed that they were four in number; two persons were in
front while another man and a woman sat at the back off the car but
because it was dark, I couldn’t see their faces.
Each night I close my eyes, I hear the cries of my two little
children calling me. I pray they are still alive”, the distraught mother
lamented.
Also, at Eketube in Enyida Development Centre, the headless body of
an apprentice nurse, Miss Kelechi Nwawaka (20), was found behind the
Comprehensive Secondary School in the community. She was allegedly
murdered at Ndiechi Eketube in Abakaliki local government area of the
state. Her head, private part and fingers were cut off apparently for
ritual purpose.
It was gathered that Kelechi’s journey to her brutal end started on
the New Year day when one of her relations, Mrs Margaret Augustine
Nweke, invited her for a dinner in her house which she honoured, and
later at night, she left for her mother’s house, escorted by the son of
her hostess,
A search party comprising men of the Civil Defence Corps and some villagers later found the mutilated body.
Imo: Victims killed, dumped in Nworie River
Our correspondent, George Onyejiuwa in Owerri, reports that in Imo
State, ritual killings have been relatively low compared to other
neighbouring states. Improved security and clampdown on ritualists’ den
in the state by the present administration may have accounted for this.
Be that as it may, there were pockets of cases of missing persons,
who were either found days later, with their vital organs missing or
simply disappeared without trace.
Recently, there were reported cases of suspected ritual killings
especially in Owerri, the state capital. Among them was the discovery of
the lifeless bodies of two female students of the Imo State University,
with some of their organs missing.
The bodies fished out from the Nworie River on old Nekede road in
Owerri metropolis, were suspected to have been dumped in the river by
suspected ritualists. Also, there was a reported case of the body of an
unidentified young man with missing organs found floating in the
Okitankwo stream in Umuchu Uratta village in Owerri North council area.
Mr Ikedia Zereuwa, told Sunday Sun that he suspected that his younger
brother, Iwuchukwu Zereuwa, was killed by ritualists who abducted him
while on his way to their village, Umuakpu community in Ngor Okpala,
from a business trip in Elele community.
“My younger brother was abducted while on his way back from Elele
where he had gone to transact business, but he was lucky to have
survived because the Okada operator that he paid to transport him to our
village that night was an agent of ritualists. So, instead of taking
the major road, he took him through a track road which he told my
brother was shorter. They had just moved for a short distance when three
men came out from the bush and blocked their way.
“It was from there that he was dragged to a small hut in the bush
where there were other people. Luckily, the native doctor pointedly told
those that brought him that he was not the type of person they needed
and ordered them to set him free. But instead, the abductors tied him to
a tree and left him there. My brother was later rescued by a man who
had gone to the bush to set traps”, he stated.
Virgins in high demand for rituals
Checks by Sunday Sun revealed that the most vulnerable groups in the
state are school children, young ladies, pregnant women and elderly
people.
It was also gathered that most of the ritual killers target children
because it is believed that most children at that relatively tender age
are virgins and more potent. Female virgins were also said to be in high
demand for rituals.
However, Amadi Okereafor, the chief priest of Umuohoko community in
Ngor Okpala council area of Imo State told Sunday Sun that it is a
sacrilege in Igbo land for anyone to terminate the life of another. He
said that in the days of their ancestors if a man killed his brother or
neighbour, he would automatically be banished from the community.
He further pointed out that the rising incidence of ritual killings
were due to the inordinate ambition of the new generation of Ndigbo who
think that money is the ultimate.
“Life was sacred in Igbo land in the time of our ancestors because if
a man killed his kinsman he would be banished because he or she had
committed a sin against the land. But today life is nothing as people
kill in the name of anything,” he said.
The chief priest also blamed the upsurge in ritual killings on politicians who are ready to do anything to win political office.
Abia: Baby snatched from labour room
Our correspondents, Chuks Onuoha in Umuahia and Okey Sampson in Aba,
Abia State report that ritual killing seemed to have become a regular
occurrence in some parts of the state to the extent that many have
become apprehensive when travelling in the state.
Not long ago, a newly born baby was snatched from the labour room
while the mother was battling for survival from post-delivery bleeding.
The baby was yet to be found as at the time of this report and the suspicion is that it must have been used for ritual.
Few days after the tot was snatched, the body of a woman without
breasts, eyes, and other vital organs was found in a bush path. Before
that incident, a young man, residing in a village in Ohuhu sliced the
throat of another young man who passed a night with him in his apartment
and fled the village.
He was later caught in far away Port Harcourt, River State, where
he’d ran to for safety. He was quoted as saying that a highly placed son
of a notable personality within the community had commissioned him to
kill the young man and bring some parts of his body.
Two years ago, a woman that went to her farm in Ohuhu near Umuahia in
the evening was killed and some of her vital organs removed by unknown
persons.
A community leader and one of the oldest men in Ohuhu, Chief Onukwube
Anyanwu, told Sunday Sun that rituals are nothing, but sacrifices made
to enhance one’s chances and opportunities.
“Different types of people in the society perform rituals and
sacrifices to make strong charms for protection, fame, success, riches,
etc. The highest of all the charms that can be made by man are those
that demand human sacrifice. They are the major causes of ritual
killings. There are many people within the society who are in a hurry to
attain a particular height. They are not ready to wait for God’s time
and for that reason, they want to push the hand of the clock to move
faster. When the native doctors or herbalists see such people, they give
them very hard conditions like the provision of human parts in order to
get what they want.
“Human blood, whether we like it or not, is the costliest of all
things mankind can possess. That is the reason many people seem to be
succeeding in ritual practices. But whether they like it or not, those
who embark on such things have ways of paying back sooner or later.
“In Igbo land, rituals are believed to enhance the chances of those
who perform it to have one gain or the other. People consult an oracle
and the oracle demands that the only thing that will make them succeed
is to bring specific human parts.
“Time was when albinos and hunch-backs were at risk, because it was
believed that the oracles demanded them to grant the desire of those who
consult them”, Anyanwu said.
Prior to the deployment of soldiers to Abia State in 2010 by the
federal government, kidnapping was the order of the day in the state,
particularly its commercial hub, Aba.
Now that it appears that soldiers have put kidnappers out of
‘business’, these hoodlums have gone into another business – ritual
murder. The most vulnerable are children.
On June 11, 2012, two pupils of Oasis Christian Academy, Amaoji in
Obingwa Local Government, Prince (6) and Kenneth (4), the only male
children of Mr. Chimezie Nwaoha, a mortician with a private hospital in
Aba set out for school.
Ironically, the parents of the two kids who had prepared them for
school before going for their various businesses thought they were at
school while their teachers who did not see them in school presumed that
their parents didn’t allow them come to school. Unknown to both sides,
the children could not make it to their school that morning because they
were abducted and killed for ritual purposes inside a palm plantation
that overlooked their school.
Their assailants removed their vital organs including eyes, tongues,
breasts and penis before burying the boys in a shallow grave inside the
bush. The police later arrested four persons in connection with the
incident. Speaking with Sunday Sun, the late children’s father, Nwaoha
said he was yet to understand why somebody would cut short the lives and
robust future of innocent children. He said it would be difficult for
the gap created by the death of his two sons because the boys were his
future hope.
Nwaoha advised other parents to, “look for maids to take care of your
kids if you are busy all the time,” adding that if he had a maid what
befell him couldn’t have happened. He appealed to the Abia state
government to assist his family.
As the police were still grappling with the case of the murdered
schoolboys, another suspected ritual murder occurred in the city.
A trailer driver, Ndubuisi (other names withheld) who hails from
Amawbia, Awka in Anambra State, allegedly forced his wife, Chinyere, to
drink some quantity of fuel and set her ablaze. The woman’s family
alleged ritual murder.
Speaking on the incidents in Igboland, a chief priest, Kanu Nwaohamuo
said ritual killing was not new in that part of the country. He said it
started in the early days when able-bodied men, especially slaves and
at times those that have offended the land were sacrificed to appease
the gods. Children were not used for that purpose and ritual killings
were not for moneymaking. It was done to either appease the gods of the
land or as a mark of respect for a fallen king or great man in a
community and were seldom done.
The chief priest regretted that these days, ritual murder of even
innocent children, has become rampant in Igbo land, and mostly for
moneymaking, describing the frequency of such cases as alarming.
He said ritual killing is crime against humanity and urged security operatives to double their efforts in fighting the crime.
The South South zone rated the lowest in ritual killings. For
example, in Rivers state, Tony John and Canice Uzoukwu reported that the
rampant crimes are armed robbery, kidnapping and cultism.
The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Benjamin
Ugwuegbulam (DSP), also told Sunday Sun said that there had not been any
reported case of ritual killing in the State.
Offered N1m for a virgin’s head
But Judex Okoro in Calabar reports that Cross River State has
witnessed about seven cases of ritual killing in the last four years.
One of the cases was in Ogoja in the Northern Senatorial District of the
state where late Evo Okoh (24), was gruesomely murdered on November 27,
2009, and his vital organs removed.
Also, in 2010 at Ndayi village in Ugep, 23-year-old Patrick Eno Onen
a.k.a. “Iwara”, a staff of the Nigerian Prisons in Calabar, allegedly
snuffed life out of his eight-month-old twins by squeezing their fragile
necks while asleep, for ritual.
For the alleged crime he was later banished by his community for the
rest of his life until he is ready to atone for abominable act by
performing certain rituals.
Narrating the ugly incidence, the babies’ mother, Blessing Bassey
Onen said shortly after the babies were settled in bed, her husband gave
her money to buy a packet of spaghetti.
“I bought the spaghetti, prepared it and served my husband and while
eating, he further sent me to buy sachet water; quickly, I left and that
was when he executed the act without my knowledge.”
In 2010, in Calabar Municipality, a young man, Udo Mbakara allegedly
beheaded his two nieces and sold their heads for N1 million each.
Mbakara, who admitted killing the two children, Princess and Rachel
aged nine and six years respectively, told detectives that “I drugged
the food and after eating it, they fell asleep and then I carried them
to their inner room where I started hacking their heads off” adding
that,
“I was offered N1 million to bring a virgin head. I was to be paid two million naira for the two heads,” he said.
Mbakara, was alleged to have been in the business of selling human heads for rituals within Calabar metropolis
In October 2011, in Anantigha in Calabar South, one Effiong Edet
(38), allegedly beheaded a mad woman for the funeral rites of his uncle,
who was a chief.
He confessed to have drugged himself to be able to carry out the act.
But Edet was said to have killed the woman, “for moneymaking rituals,
and not for a burial of any chief, since nobody would ordinarily send
him to come to Calabar for a human head”.
Last year, a widow and mother of five, Mrs. Helen Ilonge was
allegedly beheaded by suspected ritual killers who also cut off some of
her vital organs.
The late Helen was the Primary Health Care Coordinator in Bekwara
Local Government Area of the State. She was kidnapped while returning
from a church programme at Assemblies of God, Abakaliki, in Ebonyi
State, to her Ukpe village, along Ikom-Ogoja highway.
Some of the relations of the affected persons in an interview,
expressed deep fears about the way and manner the investigations were
being handled by the police.
Ritual killing booms in South-west
Hunting of human lives for ritual purposes appears to be a booming
albeit, filthy lucre in the South-west zone of the country.
Investigation by Sunday Sun correspondents revealed that the headhunters
are no respecters of age as both the young and the old have been
victims of the human predators.
Our man in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Gbenga Adesuyi, reports
that a man was found dead and his scrotum removed at Gbare area of
Idi-Ayunre in Oluyole Local Government Area of the State on Wednesday,
February 6, 2013. It was suspected that ritual killers killed the
deceased. Also, on the same day, her male friend and five other
collaborators, in Oyo town, allegedly murdered a middle- aged woman. Her
head was cut off for moneymaking ritual, while her other parts of the
body were burnt, for fear of their secret been exposed. In Omi-Adio area
of Ido Local Government council, suspected ritual killers beheaded a
woman and cut her breast and other vital organs. According to Chief
Isiaka Ifagbemi, a herbalist based in Olunde area of Ibadan, moneymaking
rituals vary because it depends on the choice of the client. Some
people, he said, have used their mothers or wives for such rituals.
Types of rituals
Ifagbemi listed different types of money making rituals, although he
was quick to add that, “I have not done any for anyone.” There is one
called Osole, another one depends on the nature of the person’s
business, and pure moneymaking ritual that involves shedding of blood
which is common in the society. He said that those involved in
moneymaking ritual sometimes use pregnant women, albino, hunch-backs and
children.
He recalled the story his father once told him about a man who went
for money ritual to aid his business. The ritual was made, according to
him, but it did not work until after three years. “The man was told by
the herbalist that some strangers would bring a business that he had no
previous experience of, to him. He had warned him not to reject the
business proposal. He forgot about the ritual but after three years,
three strange men came to his shop and offered him a business to help
them purchase vehicles. He told them he was a novice in the business and
as he was seeing the strangers off, they disappeared. That was when he
remembered the money ritual he had performed.
Osole – A special kind of ritual
According to Ifagbemi, Osole is often made inside the house where the
client lives. “I remember vividly the story of a man in Agbongbon area
of Ibadan who often found money inside his room. The former occupant had
made money ritual inside the room but when the money was too much, he
relocated to his newly constructed house. The new occupant found money
regularly in the room on a particular date. The date never changed. He
initially thought it was a coincidence but it came regularly until he
investigated and found out that it was ritual money,” he said.
A report filed in by Moshood Adebayo in Abeokuta, Ogun state,
indicates that there were few cases of ritual killing in the state and
the Police Command assured it would not rest on its oars until
perpetrators of such acts are flushed out. However, the Police Command’s
Public Relations Officer, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, said many cases of
missing persons had been misconstrued as ritual murder.
But despite this assurance, a 65-year-old herbalist, Chief Dandola
Owotomo, was caught with a human tongue, an arm and a woman’s private
part in Ijebu-Igbo area of the state.
Owotomo, popularly called Amuludun Isese, was arrested in his
residence in Oke Agbo area of Ijebu town by the policemen from Atan
Division following a tip-off that he was among those behind the
disappearance of a 70-year-old herbalist, Kehinde Rabiu, who was
declared missing in Idode-Imomo.
The police spokesman while thanking various communities in the state
for their assistance, said: “I can assure you that the identity of
anyone who volunteered information that will help us uncover any ritual
killer or his den would be highly appreciated and shielded.’’
He disclosed that in another raid on shrines of suspected killers,
items recovered from the scene included a pot that contained a human
hand with the five phalanges, tongue and omi oku which in Yoruba, means
fluid drained from dead bodies that littered the underground cell, and a
ring.
From Osogbo in Osun state, Bamigbola Gbolagunte reported that killings related to rituals are prevalent in the state.
According to recent findings, the Police have handled many cases of
ritual killing in the last two years in several parts of the state
including Osogbo, the state capital; Ikirun in Ifelodun Local Government
Area and Ipetumodu, the headquarters of Ife North Local Government
Area.
Records available to Sunday Sun revealed that most of the rituals in
the state were for quick wealth and they were carried out by youths
between the ages of 28 and 35 including students of tertiary
institutions spread across the country.
Recently, a middle aged man identified as Morufu Jefoe was arrested
by the Osun State Police Command for allegedly exhuming the corpse of
his late mother and removing her vital organs including the head and the
private part.
Although, the suspect pleaded mental illness, residents of the area
punctured his defence. “There is no iota of truth in the claim. We have
lived with Jefoe for over 10 years. He has no history of mental
disability and unruly behaviour. We are sure that some people are behind
him and probably they contracted him to do the job.”
Also, recently, residents of Oke Ayepe area of Osogbo beat up a taxi
driver because some school children alleged that he attempted to carry
them to an unknown destination on the outskirts of Osogbo as against
their destination. At Ipetumodu, headquarters of Ife North Local
Government Area, an Okada operator was killed at the bank of the river
and his vital organs removed.
A traditionalist, Chief Oluwo Isegun, told our correspondent that
rituals are spiritual efforts to appease the gods, but decried the use
of human beings for sacrifices.
He said: “It’s not a good thing to use human beings for rituals.
There are so many other things that can be used for rituals that will
not affect the lives of other people. For instance we use cows, goats,
birds and other animals to make rituals and they are often acceptable
and also produce desired results.”
In Ondo state, Tunde Raheem stated that the rate of ritual killing in
the state ebbed in the past four years. Investigations revealed that
ritual killing is not as rampant as robbery and other violent crimes.
Few cases of ritual killing were recorded by the police in some areas
especially the state capital, Akure and Odigbo local government area.
In September 2011, Felix Olatunji , a 26-year-old furniture
apprentice in Adegbola area of Akure was declared missing after he left
home to clear a farmland at Oba-Ile, a suburb.
After fruitless search, Olatunji’s family consulted the oracle that “revealed” that their son had been used for money rituals.
The “revelation” compelled the family to report the case to the
police at A-division Police Station in Akure and the man who hired Felix
to clear the farmland was arrested but later released due to inadequate
evidence to nail him.
Felix’s elder brother, Mr Segun Olatunji, told Sunday Sun that the
family had searched hospitals, morgues, police cells and prisons but to
no avail.
He said their aged mother later fell ill and died after a year of his
brother’s disappearance adding that after due consultations with
oracles, prophets and other spiritual personalities, the family
concluded that, “Felix had been killed for ritual”.
Also in February last year, at Ayedun area of Akure , residents woke
one morning and found the body of a lady identified as Deborah Fakeye,
wrapped in a bag with two of her toes sticking out . Her vital organs
and right palm had been severed from the body dumped near her mother’s
residence.
The State Police Command spokesman, ASP Donald Ogodo said that,
“available records across all police formations in the state indicated
that cases of ritual murder were low as majority of the divisional
stations did not record any such case in their respective stations for
some years now.”
A traditionalist, Ifamoye Eniola, told Sunday Sun that killing human
beings for various rituals is real and common among Africans. Ifamoye
who denied any involvement in ritual killing said humans are often used
for rituals for money making, promotion, trading and securing
appointments. However, he berated herbalists and other traditionalists
involved in ritual killings. Ifamoye attributed the alarming rate of
ritual killing to the tendency of people wanting to become rich at all
costs and even at the expense of their parents and other blood
relations.
He added: “Not only herbalists and traditionalists are involved in
ritual killings as generally believed in the country. Some evil- minded
marabouts and prophets especially the white garment group, use human
parts as sacrifice for desperate politicians, businessmen and women and
some internet fraudsters called “yahoo boys.”
A report from Ekiti State by Charles Adegbite, showed that ritual killers are on the prowl in that state. A 14-year-old girl,
Ranti Openiye, escaped miraculously from those who abducted her and
two other teenagers for rituals, on Monday, October 10, 2011. Ranti, a
student of All Souls Anglican Grammar School, Basiri in Ado Ekiti, was
sent by her grandmother to buy vegetable around 4pm and on her to the
market, some men who might have cast a spell on her, beckoned to her and
instantly, she lost her ability to reason or resist them. She was
ordered to get into a bus in which there were two other students in
their school uniforms, whose faces were covered. Instantly, they covered
her face with a hood and drove them to their shrine located inside a
forest.
She said she was tied to a tree like several other old and young
victims they met in that “jungle of no mercy”. She was miraculously
singled out among numerous other victims in the shrine and taken back to
the spot where she was abducted, the following Thursday at about 7pm.
Before freedom came her way, her head and her pubic hairs had been
shaved for ritual purpose but somehow, they could not continue with the
ritual.
But Mrs. Bose Edijana Nnaefenwa, a mother of four children, was not
that lucky. She was allegedly beheaded at Aramoko Ekiti in July 2012,
while on her way to her husband’s farm. Her husband, Lucky Nnaefenwa,
and three other suspects are facing prosecution for their alleged
involvement in the attack.
Other cases in the state include that of a six-year-old prima
Source :Sun
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