Ritual Killing

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in Lagos State have arrested a fifty-one year-old man, Mr. Poni Bada, for attempting to use his son for ritual.

The man recounted how he lured his 9-year-old child and took him before a habalist to be sacrificed for money rituals because of the rising inflation which resulted to a bitting economic hardship in the country.

The man said he had ten children from three wives but he can not feed himself, let alone feeding them.

He stated that looking at the way things kept changing from bad to worse, he decided to use the 9-year-old kid, Agbe, who is his last child for a money ritual so that he could train the other children and have better living conditions.

However, the child was rescued when a team of policemen from the Zone 2 Command, Onikan Lagos, who acted on intelligence, stormed the herbalist’s shrine and arrested the man and other suspects.

Explaining how he came up with the idea of using his son for money rituals, the father of the boy, Bada, said: “I have 10 children from three wives.

“The situation of things kept going from bad to worse. I could not feed my children. I then decided to use my last child, Agbe, for a money ritual, so that I could train the other children and have better living conditions.

“In May 2023, I left my home town in Jakotome, Benin Republic for Nigeria, to visit my brother, Benjamin Balobi, at Ilaro, Ogun State, who earlier told me he was doing well as a farmer and that the owner of a farmland was looking for labourers.

“That was how I brought Agbe to Nigeria to work. But the thought of using him for a money ritual came up when I realized that the money paid as salary to my son was very poor.

“I told Balobi to help me get a herbalist that would help me with the money rituals; he said he knew no one but promised to help me find a herbalist who might have information on it.

“He informed Ige Koshelu (one of the suspects) who found someone that promised to take us to the herbalist’s place in Sango.

“But we were taken to another herbalist’s place in Owode, where we were arrested,” he stated.

By Uzair Adam Imam

A young tricycle rider was reportedly raped by three suspected ‘Yahoo plus’ boys in Anambra state on Monday.

Several reports have indicated that the boys forcefully raped the tricycle rider for ritual purposes.

The Anambra state police command has confirmed the incident and said the rider was lured into a room where he was forcefully raped.

The command’s spokesperson, DSP Toochukwu Ikenga, disclosed that one of the suspects had been arraigned while his allies had run away.

“The Commissioner of Police has ordered the transfer of the case to state CID for a discretion investigation. 

“Preliminary information showed that the suspect hired the victim, a tricycle rider and lured him into a room before having carnal knowledge of him.

“Meanwhile, the result from the doctor’s report showed that there was penetration into his anus, but the arrested suspect has denied it. 

“Further details will be communicated as investigations are still ongoing,” the PPRO said.

By Muhammadu Sabiu

The police detained a 20-year-old woman and her lover in Ebonyi State for selling their baby boy to a maternity homeowner for N500,000.

Jonah Ogbuagu, a bricklayer, impregnated the mother, Ola China, 20, of Amangwu Edda in Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi in August 2021.

In April 2022, Ola gave birth to the child in Obigbo, Rivers, where she had gone to hibernate at her aunt’s house throughout the pregnancy.

After giving birth, she and Ogbuagu plotted to sell the child.

On Tuesday, SP Chris Anyanwu, the police spokesman in Ebonyi, reported that “Mummy Abigail,” a pregnant woman who goes by the moniker, had been taken into custody in Ovima, another local government area in Afikpo North.

“Mummy Abigail runs a maternity home which she uses as a cover for her illicit trade.

“The suspects have been handed over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons for necessary actions and prosecution,’’ SP Anyanwu stated.

He added by saying that police in Ebonyi also detained a two-man child trafficking gang that specialized in kidnapping, stealing, and selling children.

Otuu Chizaram, 24, of Ndukwe Akpoha and Agbi Precious, 20, of Evuma Road, both in the Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi, were identified by Anyawu.

“Each of them confessed to the crime of stealing a baby,’’ Anyanwu added.

By Abba Muhammad Tawfiq

Most religious and social felonies are committed solely to nurturing the sown seeds of an insatiable desire for money, materialism and mundane accomplishments, reinforcing the Biblical notion that “the love of money is the root of all evil”.

On the ground of moral virtue, no religion in the worthiness of its sanctity nor a firm believer and practitioner of any faith can complement or plead devotion to whatever form of major and minor despicable moral misconduct.

There is nothing wrong with striving to make a beautiful living through the means sanctioned by religions and society. However, the aftermath of the strong inclination to live a high life at all costs, even through ways that defy basic rules and breach fundamental human civilization, is what we terribly testify to today.

The conviction of the culprit teacher and his accomplices that abducted, mutilated and buried the stiff of his naive and innocent student despite having the three million naira ransom at his disposal sparked bitter feelings of every soft conscienced individual in the country. But for the sake of money and worldly gains, this dirty act is not the ever-existing cruelty that hurts the dignity of our religions and community.

Talking to an extreme length, the deficit of love, compassion, and trust in the quest for affluence and fame have seismically cleaved even familial alliances and bonds.

On January 8, 2022, the crime bulletin aired by Neptune Prime was that of a 25-year-old Niger boy who paid an assassin the sum of N110000 to help send his father on an excursion to the land of his ancestors so as to inherit his possessions.

Similarly, on January 13, 2022, a 52-year-old Enugu father and 32-year-old Lagos elder brother allied with mum were reportedly arrested on the charge of taking malicious delight in murdering three offsprings and a  sibling. All in the common interest of ritual money.

Our lack of contentment and the unwillingness to live within the ambits of our earnings give a proper insight into the pervading tragic circumstances of easy money-making. Everyone is desperate for shortcut success, power and fame–riches, expensive attire and mobile phones, and owning mansions with exotic vehicles. Thus,  choose to pay that price even via ways that incur the Godly wrath on us.

May the merciful and forgiving Lord save our souls from indulging in mischievous acts, ameen

Abba Muhammad Tawfiq is a 500L Medical Rehabilitation student at the University of Maiduguri.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Chaos erupted in the Oke Aregba neighbourhood of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, as the locals discovered three young men burning the head of a lady alleged to be in a relationship with one of them.

Mr Segun Adewusi, the community security guard, had noticed four boys burning what presumed to be a human head in a local pot on the road in the early hours of Saturday.

According to reports, the security guard quickly contacted the police station in Adatan, who responded to the site and apprehended three lads, one of whom had left before police arrived.

According to a source who confirmed the incident to our correspondent, the slain girl, identified as Rofiat, was a resident of Idi-Ape. She was the girlfriend of one Soliu, now in police custody.

Soliu allegedly enticed Rofiat into his apartment, held her down, and requested one of his buddies to slaughter her with a knife.

“The arrested suspects were identified as 17-year-old Wariz Oladeinde from Kugba, 19-year-old Abdulgafar Lukman from Kugba and Mustakeem Balogun from Bode Olude, all in Abeokuta. Soliu was the boyfriend of the girl, he ran away but was later arrested.

“They killed Rofiat, cut her head, packed the headless body in a sack and started burning the head in a pot. They told the police in the presence of a mammoth crowd that they wanted to use it for a money ritual.

“The police have taken the body away to a mortuary,” the source said on Saturday.

By Muhammad Sabiu

A man from Igege in Osun State was apprehended with mutilated human body parts on Wednesday. His identity, however, could not be confirmed immediately.

Some residents were said to have notified security agents after becoming suspicious of the man’s movements.

The suspect was forced to bring out mangled human body parts from a bag while several bystanders beat him with sticks and screamed profanity at him, according to video footage captured at the scene of the crime.

The suspect could also be heard in the video denying his involvement in ritual killings and criticising persons he claims to have set him up.

Residents attempted to lynch the man, and members of the Hunters Group of Nigeria and the Amotekun Corps were brought to the scene.

Sunday Olaifa, Chairman of the OlaOluwa South East Local Council Development Authority, informed our correspondent that once the man was apprehended, villagers attempted to lynch him, but he was saved by security personnel.

Olaifa, who said he had to rush to Igege to appeal to the villagers, sought a thorough probe into the situation to guarantee that justice was delivered.