-
The year 2013
Murder for money.... Victims of
ritual murders tell their stories
new
This lengthy overview of recent ritual killings in
Nigeria covers many states in various regions of the
country: in the South-East: Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo, Abia, and
Cross River states; in the South-West Nigeria: Oyo, Ogun,
Ondo, and Ekiti states.
It focuses the vulnerable groups: women, virgins, babies,
and answers the question Why ritualists are 'in
business'.
Sources:
OsunDefender, February 17, 2013
The Sun, February 17, 2013
---------------------------------------------
The Year 2012
Suspected ritualists confession:
'We slaughtered hunchback to live big'
By Dayo Johnson, Akure
"We also want to live big after seeing other young boys
that are not even our age group living in affluence, riding
good and exotic cars, living in good houses and enjoying the
good things of life”.
These were the words of Samuel Olatunji, paraded by the
police authorities, last week, in Akure, the Ondo State
capital, for the ritual killing of a 25-year old, Adeoye
Dovo, a hunchback. Adeoye was an SSS3 student in a private
school and lived with his parents at Bashorun Quarters at
Ago-Alaye area in Odigbo local government area of the state.
The suspects-three of them - wanted to get rich by all means,
they were ready to kill to achieve this purpose. (...) So
they approached a herbalist, Oluwatosin Elebile for money
ritual.
(....)
The death of the Adeoye led to violent reaction from youths
in the community who set ablaze vehicles and houses of the
suspected ritualists. Parading the suspects – Olatunji and
the herbalist Ondo State police commissioner, Sani Mogaji,
said Olatunji had confessed to the ritual killing.(....)
The two other suspects, Dayo and Holo, are on the run.
(....)
Source:
www.vanguardngr.com
January 28, 2012
The Year 2011:
Alleged ritual killing: Niger
police arrest 4 suspects
The police in Kagara, Rafi Local Government Area
of Niger State, have arrested four people in connection with
alleged murder of a 13-year-old son of an Islamic scholar at
Sabunga village.
(....) that the suspects Yakubu Abaki; Musa Ahmed; Yakila
Haruna, also known as Gambo, and Babaye Alhaji Maiburedi,
all of Sanbuga and Kagara villages connived to kill one
Shamshideen Musa, son of the cleric, purposely for ritual.
According to findings, the suspects had arranged with Ali
Isa and Sulaiman Bade, now at large,to assist a local but
prominent politician in the local government area with
charms to help him win the last election.
(....)the principal suspect in the crime, Haruna Mohammed,
who was to provide the human parts for the charm lured the
13-year-old boy to a secluded area of the town where he
killed him (....) after which he allegedly removed the
deceased’s intestines and other internal organs.
Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Oguche Richard Adamu,
confirmed the story (....).
May 10, 2011
-
Four of a family killed for ritual sacrifice
-
LASA Students Raise Alarm Over Ritual Killings Near Campus
Students of the Lagos State University (LASU) have raised alarm over
growing cases of ritual killing and armed robbery along LASU/Iba
road and other communities around its main campus at Ojo, Lagos.
(....)
Mr. Senapon Ajasa, speaker of the institution‘ Students Union
Government, told newsmen no fewer than 10 people have been killed in
LASU area in the last two months by suspected ritual killers.
(....)
Everybody, particularly the students, is afraid. Ritual killers who
remove body parts of their victims after killing them have made LASU/Iba
expressway and adjoining communities unsafe.
(....) On their way to school, students usually find corpses
whose body parts have been removed around the campus. It is a scary
thing,“ he said.(....)
Weekend Observer, February 12, 2011
-
Fashola's Lagos: The Truth, the Myth and The Reality
Web master FVDK: This is about Governor Fashola of Lagos who
is seeking re-election in the April 2011 elections
(...) whether Lagosians’ lives have changed for good under Fashola’s
administration. (....)
In the area of public security, the state government has become more
creative and daring in its effort to ensure a secure state where all
could live, invest and interact without any fear. This is the motive
behind the establishment of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund in
2007 through which the state government partners with individuals
and corporate organisations in the state to effectively address the
security question. Before the fund was established, crime rate in
the state was alarming, bank robberies became rife in different
parts of the state, and the use of public buses to rob was on the
increase, car snatching, ritual killing and burglary had become
almost normal activities in the metropolis. But the trend has now
changed tremendously as evident in the 2010 report of the Lagos
State Police Command.
(....)
February 8, 2011
-
2 arrested over pastor’s wife’s murder in Ekiti
BOLU-OLU ESHO, Ado-Ekiti
Two suspects have been arrested by the police in connection with the
raping and murder of the wife of the Pastor-in-charge of the Zion
Baptist Church in Age Quarters, Igede-Ekiti, Mrs. Taiwo Oluwole.
(....)
Mrs. Bisi Fayemi, the wife of the state governorwho was distraught
by the development, condemned in strong words the raping and killing
of 56-year-old Mrs. Taiwo Oluwole by yet to be identified assailants
penultimate Saturday on the farm in Igede-Ekiti, calling for an end
to such dastardly act.
(...)
Rev. John Oluwole, the widower, and his three children were sorely
grieved by the killing of the better half of the family by some
ritualists, who, after raping her removed something suspected to be
her womb, through her private part before dumping her 24 hours after
she had been murdered at a spot in Ile-Ona in Odo-Uri.
Mrs. Fayemi assured the family of the deceased and the people of the
community that the state government would “do everything within the
law to apprehend the perpetrators of the heinous crime.” tasking the
natives to be more vigilant in ensuring that their environment is
safe.
(....)
The late Mrs Oluwole, who’s a native of Ondo, in Ondo State, was the
seventh victim of ritual killings in the small community date back
to 2003 among who were six women.
February 8, 2011
-
Angry youths protest in Ekiti, hold monarch hostage
Rampaging youths in Igede in Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area
of Ekiti State went on the rampage, on Tuesday, and held the town’s
monarch, Oba James Aladesuru, and members of his council hostage
over the mysterious death of a middle-aged woman in the town.
The body of the woman, Mrs Taiwo Oluwole, said to be the wife of the
pastor in charge of Zion Baptist Church in the town, was discovered,
on Sunday, after her family members raised the alarm that she went
missing, on Saturday.
The angry youth made several bonfires on the roads in the town in
protest of what they suspected was a ritual murder or deadly rape
act at Ule-Ona, a community in the suburb of Aramoko, a neighbouring
town.
The Nigerian Tribune gathered that (....) Akintola said the killing
of Mrs. Akintola was one too many (....).
Oba Aladesuru, in his reaction, told newsmen that efforts had been
on by leaders of the town to ensure that the police got to the root
of the matter (...)
(...)
The youth claimed that the killings at Ule-Ona had been going on for
a while unchecked and alleged that the police and other security
agencies had not done enough to check them.
(...)
February 2, 2011
-
Ritual Killer Attempts To Behead Girl, 26
Introduction web master (FVDK):
The following news story evokes a number of questions but I
nevertheless have decided to draw your attention to it:
One Chioma Ezeonyido, a waiter at a restaurant in Awka, almost
became a victim of ritual killing when an okada operator who was to
convey her to her home after a hard day’s job turned out to be a
ritualist, and attempted to behead her after forcefully driving her
into a bush along the route they travelled.
Though she was able to survive the attempt, doctors gave up on her,
having not seen anyone survive such cuts in her throat before.
Seeing the heavy stitches round her neck, where the murderer tore
through her skin all round, one will wonder if her head had not
fallen off from her body before it was joined together with stitches
from her doctor. Coupled with that is another cut with a knife on
the artery on her ankle, connecting her legs to her feet. According
to her, this was a deliberate attempt by the ritualist to ensure
that she does not leave the bush until he returns with a bigger
cutlass since her head refused to fall off her body despite the cut
round her neck.
(....)
According to Chioma, (....) Then.... “The first thing he did was to
use my hair tie to fasten round my throat, such that I found it very
difficult to shout. We struggled with ourselves for quite some time,
just as he dragged me further into the bush, then produced a knife
which he now stabbed my neck with. As you are seeing these stitches
on my neck, it is very deep. Something that my entire hand entered
into. But surprisingly, I was not feeling any pain then, the man
went further after trying to cut my neck from the front which is my
throat, he stabbed be in the back of my neck and was pulling the
knife so that the cut will join the one in the front and probably
for my head to fall off.” She explained.
(....)
Asked if she thinks it is a case of attempt to assassinate her,
Chioma said she has not had any misunderstanding with any one
recently or even in the past. She also stated that if the man was
bent on killing him, he would have stabbed her on other parts of her
body to ensure that she died, but the man was only particular about
his neck, which she said is an indication that the man was seeking
her head.
December 6, 2010
-
Nine women murdered - Community in the grip of
ritualists
Fear and apprehension rightly described the atmosphere in Ibusa,
Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta state.
(...)men and women have refused to go to farm for fear of being
killed by suspected ritualists who have been unleashing terror on
the community. The evil men target only women who are above fifty.
Daily Sun reliably gathered that from December 2009 to July 2010,
nine women have been murdered in their farmlands and their body
parts tampered with.
(....)
The traditional Prime Minister of Ibusa (Odogwu), Dr Tony Nwaezeigwe,
took the reporter to some of the scenes of the killings. He said the
incidents smack of ritual killings.
(....)
He said the manner in which the first one was killed was the same
way others were killed. He explained that aside the physical
evidences seen on the corpses, he and his team had gone for inquiry
from the oracles: “the oracle has spoken that those behind the
dastard acts are sons and daughters of Ibusa in collaboration with
outsiders. The oracle has also revealed that the killings were done
for materialistic purposes. So, the killing is for money making
rituals.”
(...)
His Royal Highness, Onowu Patrick Mowete, also described the new
trend of killings in Ibusa as abominable. The 102-year-old man, who
is the oldest in the clan (Diokpa), said there is just on reason for
the killing. It was purely for money making ritual. (....).”
(....)
September 15, 2010
-
Ritual killing: A menace overlooked
As with countless incidents of ritual murder, predating the infamous
Otokoto saga of 1996 and many others, the case of five people in
Ibusa village, Oshimili Local Government Area of Delta State,
recently killed on their farms is unlikely to elicit appropriate
reaction from government and its law enforcement agencies. The
victims, all female, had their breasts and private parts removed by
the murderers.
(....)
Also in Suleja, Niger State, in the past few weeks, residents have
been living in fear, carefully avoiding specific neighbourhoods,
because of experiences similar to those of Ibusa village.
In Lagos, areas along Mile II-Badagry Expressway, Igando-Ojo,
Ipaja-Ayobo, Mafoluku, Apapa, as well as settlements along
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, are well-known dark spots, repeatedly
highlighted in news reports and police press bulletins.
Other parts of the South West also have several dark spots. So are
the South South and South East, where Okija Shrine remains an
everyday reminder of how entrenched hideous ritualistic practices
have become in the Nigerian society.
The Nigeria Police, State Security Service and other security
agencies cannot claim to be unaware of the daily abduction and
slaughter of innocent citizens for money-making rituals, (....).
Perpetrators, abductors, witchdoctors and their patrons alike, have
been emboldened by the indifference and inaction of the authorities,
with the result that human parts are reportedly being openly
displayed and purchased in markets around the country.
The government cannot continue to play ostrich (....) Ritual murder
and related activities have to be checked through decisive action,
as relevant laws exist and there are institutions for their
enforcement.
(....)
January 10, 2010
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Former Commissioner Jailed for Life for Ritual Killings
JIGAWA State Information Commissioner during the
administration of former Governor Saminu Turaki, Alhaji Abba
Umar Kukuma, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the
state High Court sitting in Ringim, for an alleged
involvement in the killing of two children.
(....)
Kukuma and one Alhaji Hamza Muhammad will spend the rest of
their lives in prison, having been found guilty in the
murder of four-year-old Aminu Bala and three-year-old Abba
Magaji.
On August 10, last year, angry youths in Birnin Kudu burnt
down the commissioner’s house after accusing him of ritual
killing. This led to his arrest by the police.
(....)
Delivering the judgement, Justice Isah, who admitted that
the evidences tendered by the prosecution were
circumstantial, however held that the “accused persons were
guilty of the offences because neither the accused persons
nor their counsel proved their innocence.”
(....)
“The prosecution has proved to the court beyond reasonable
doubt that the corpses of the two children were found in the
boot of the former commissioner’s car; that the two accused
persons conspired to evacuate the corpses and dumped same
along Kano-Birnin-Kudu highway, and concealed the fact by
not reporting the matter to the police,” he said.
January 5, 2010
-
Ritual Killings: Katsina State Government summons security
meeting
Worried by persistent cases of ritual killings and missing of people, Katsina
state government has summoned a meeting of religious leaders and security agents
to come up with measures toward addressing the problem.
(....)
In his speech at the meeting, the permanent secretary in the ministry of
religious affairs, Alhaji Iro Musa Anda urged religious leaders to preach
against those who engage in acts of ritual killings.
Anda warned that government will not hesitate to decisively deal with any group
or persons caught in such acts.
(....)
In their separate contributions, the representative of Munaazzamat Fityanul
Islam and Izalatul Bidi’a Wa Ikamatus Sunnah called on the government (....).
They called for capital punishment to be visited on anybody caught for ritual
killing.
(....)
Monday,
January 4, 2010
-
Gowon, Adefarasin say only prayers can rescue Nigeria
Founder of Nigeria Prays and former Head of State, General
Yakubu Gowon and the National Secretary of the Pentecostal
Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, Pastor Wale Adefarasin have implored
Christians all over the country to imbibe the culture of praying for
Nigeria as that is the only way the nation could be rescued from the
menace it has found itself. (...)
Speaking at the event, Pastor Adefarasin noted (...) “All over the
country there are ritual spots and all forms of ritual practices.
The problem of Nigeria is linked to these ritual practices.
(...)
“We cannot say the killing of human beings and burying of live cows
for ritual purposes don’t have effect on us as a nation. They do
have and I want to employ Nigerians especially Christians to make it
a duty to continue to pray for this nation,” he said.
(...)
September 5, 2009
-
Terrified Family Faces Deportation
The incredible story of Mayam Oderinde: true or false?
A deportation-threatened family who found a new home in Wigan say they face
death if they are sent home to Nigeria.
Maryam Oderinde fears for her life and those of her four sons after the Home
Office told her they don't have just grounds for asylum.
(...)
Maryam Oderinde arrived in the UK from Nigeria in November 2002 accompanied by
her youngest son, Fawaz, fleeing ritual killing and persecution. Her
father-in-law, Mulikai Oderinde, was once the king of a local tribe in the city
of Aduge.
In respect of their cultural heritage when the king died Maryam's husband,
Taofik, was told that one his of sons would have to be ritually sacrificed. He
ran away with three of their children, Abidun, Owolabe and Aseez, to the city of
Ibadan, while Maryam and Fawaz came to Britain. When Maryam's husband was killed
Abidun, Owolabe and Aseez effectively became orphans, were forced into slavery
and were caught up in the race riots which rocked the country.
Maryam was desperate to be reunited with her other three sons and they arrived
in the UK in 2004 accompanied by a friend of her dead husband.
(...)
The Home office refused her asylum (...)
A UK Border Agency spokesperson said: "We consider every case with enormous
care. But where an individual has been found by us and the courts to have no
grounds to stay in the UK it is our responsibility to uphold that decision and
remove them. We encourage those that the courts have found do not qualify for
asylum or for humanitarian protection leave the UK voluntarily, taking advantage
of reintegration assistance tailored to their individual needs."
September 2, 2009
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Jigawa police investigates ex-Commissioner over alleged ritual
killing
Jigawa State Police Command has begun thorough investigation of an
ex-Commissioner of Information, Youth, Sports and Culture, Alhaji
Umar Abba Kukuma, for his alleged involvement in the ritual killing
of two children in Birnin-Kudu Local Government Area of the state
which occurred last week.
(...)
Last week, the ex-Commissioner, presently Secretary of Buji Local
Government, Alhaji Abba Umar Kukuma was accused of allegedly killing
two children namely Auwalu Bala and Abba Magaji, aged 2 and 3 years,
respectively, which led to the destruction of his residence and his
vehicles by irate mobs of the town.
August 17, 2009
Ritual killing: Police command reacts to ex-commissioner’s arrest
The former commissioner of information in Jigawa state, Alhaji Abba
Umar Kukuma who was arrested over alleged having hand in the murder
of two under aged children, could neither be described a suspect nor
accused yet.
The state commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abdullahi Sani Fana said
that keeping the former commissioner in the police custody was for
his own safety.
August 14, 2009
-
New blood thirsty cult confirmed in Uganda -
Police say the cult whose members are mainly wealthy Kampalans
originated from West Africa
Although not explicit, it is being suggested that Nigeria has
someting to do with this new trend (comments FVDK)
(....)
Acting Commissioner of the Police Investigations Department, Moses
Binoga, said the cult originated from West Africa.
Authorities in West Africa have in the recent past fought running
battles with cult members. On August 6, cult members shot and killed
a policeman in Nigeria who was considered a threat to the cult’s
activities in Adigbe area.
In the same country, 13 students were killed in clashes between
cults calling themselves the Black Axe and the Black Eye, all said
to be practising black magic. Some of their activities include
killing, rape, extortion and theft.
Nigeria Police also clashed with the Boko Haram cult, killing 700
people and arresting hundreds of members of the group.
(....)
Others attribute part of the belief in super natural powers to the
recent wave of “Nollywood” movies from West Africa whose main themes
are wealth and devil worship.
“They [people] think when you sacrifice human blood you will become
rich over night. Or get promotions on the job ahead of others,”
Binoga said.
(....)
August 19, 2009
-
Child snatching for rituals on the rise in Kano
(...)
Body parts from toddlers and pre-schoolers are prized ingredients
for lucky charms thought to make people rich or rise up on the
political ladder.
In the last few months, kidnapping of young children has increased
in Kano -- the second largest city after the capital Lagos and long
the economic heart of the north -- raising concern among parents and
officials.
"Ritual killers are now on the prowl in the city on an increasing
scale, abducting children for rituals for wealth and positions,"
said Ibrahim Abullahi, spokesman for the state government's Societal
Re-orientation Directorate.
(...)
"The abducted children are usually between two and five years old,"
he said.
(...)
In March, 16-year-old banana hawker Awwalu Baffa confessed to a Kano
court of working for ritualists to abduct children for ritual
murders.
Baffa (...) said he used a motorcycle helmet to bewitch his victims.
"When I placed the helmet on a child's head he would disappear and I
would use the motorcycle my employer gave me to convey the victim to
a house where he would be killed for rituals," Baffa had told a
court hearing attended by an AFP reporter on March 23.
"In my presence my employer Hassan and his three associates
slaughtered a five-year-old boy I supplied them for rituals," he
said.
(...)
July 5, 2009
-
11 Nabbed over Killing of 12-year-old Girl
Eleven suspected killers of a 12-year-old girl in Ifon, Ifon Orolu
Local Government area of Osun State, are now in Police net at the
state Police Command ,Osogbo. The victim, Rofiat Ojewole, was said
(...) to have been killed for ritual purposes last Monday.
(...) investigation revealed that after the killing of the girl
inside a church located in the heart of the town, all her vital
organs were removed.
(...)
While confirming the ugly incident, the police image maker, ASP
Olabode Akinola , said (...) the head of the church was alleged to
have masterminded the killing of the girl.
(...)
June 23, 2009
-
Ritualists Behead 8 -Year Old Orphan In Kwara
Despite the fact of losing his parents at a tender age, Master Aminu
Zanda, an eight year old and indigene of Aberi, a village along
Ajase-ipo/Offa road in Kwara State on April 1st, 2009 was sent to
his early grave by his guardian, Waheed Sanni,who specialised in
money rituals.
OSUN DEFENDER gathered that the victim, who was living with Sanni
until April 1 2009, was sent on an errand by Malomo Saliu and
Abdullahi, who had earlier patronised the victim’s guardian for
money rituals.
A reliable source at Ajase-Ipo on Monday disclosed that the culprits
ambushed the victim along a bushy path within the village and
beheaded him and took the head to the herbalist.
(...)
He disclosed that the culprits had confessed to have perpetrated the
act. The herbalist, Sanni admitted that he demanded for dried human
head from the two culprits and not a fresh one.
April
10, 2009
-
How ritualists mutilated a five year girl
Makurdi-Benue State capital has been gripped with fear following the murder of a
five-year-old girl, Mercy Unogwu, whose throat was slashed by an unknown person.
The removal of the genitals, eyes, tongue, intestines and breast from her
remains, have made parents in Makurdi with inexplicable shock to the extent that
they cling to their wards.
The awful story is still holding residents in Makurdi environments spellbound
authenticating the stories of kidnapping and murder in other parts of the
country.
(...)
“This ritualists are finally here with us”, a terribly disturbed parent, Mr.
Ochei Philip and relation of the bereaved family told Saturday Vanguard, “and
the disturbing aspect of the murder saga is the way the remains of the little
girl was mutilated by her captors in a manner that portrayed her killing as the
handiwork of ritualists who have no respect for human life, not even that of a
five year old this is really disheartening”, he added.
(...)
March 14, 2009
-
Ritual murder scandal pits son against
father
At the age of 73, Chief Bayo Olumide should
be looking forward to spending the rest of
his life in peace. (...) Unfortunately,
Olumide has become a constant visitor to the
State Criminal Investigation Department,
Panti in Yaba, Lagos. Saturday Punch
gathered that the police had invited the old
man for questioning after his 21-year-old
son, Segun, raised an alarm over what he
suspected to be a plan by the former to
murder him for a money-making ritual.
Segun told policemen in Panti that his
father had summoned him to a meeting in his
house (...) But when he arrived at the venue
of the meeting, he was surrounded by seven
hefty men who later kidnapped him. The young
man said that the strangers had bargained
even among themselves for different parts of
his body, even as he watched and listened to
them.
(...)
The matter is currently under investigation
by the police.
March 14, 2009
- Two lynched over ritual murder
Two persons in Guma local government area of Benue State have been
stoned to death by an angry mob for killing Aondohemba Maga for
ritual purposes. (....) Motorcyclist Aondohemba Maga was said to
have run into the alleged ritual group which brutally killed him and
removed his heart, leaving his corpse by the roadside and making
away with his motorcycle.
(....) youths in the area who embarked on a search mission, arrested
one in Mr. Ajim and Patrick Songo as being behind the killing of Mr.
Maga and out of anger stoned the two to death. (...)
January 23, 2009
- Police mourn ritual killing of constable's son in Delta State
The police in Delta State are still mourning the brutal murder of
Onuwa Ossai, the 14-year-old son of policeman Henry Ossai, who was
allegedly beheaded by two ritualists in a farm at Ogwuashi-Uku in
Aniocha North Local Council.
(...)
After the gruesome murder of the boy, the killers tried to escape
with the head of their victim, but they ran into four youths from a
neighbouring farm (...) caught up with the killers as the youths
overpowered them and handed them over to the police with the
lifeless head of the victim.
(...)
It was learnt that the confessional statements of the suspected
ritualists whose names were given as Chukulem and Ugochukwu at the
Delta State Criminal Investigation Department, Asaba, led to the
arrest of an elder of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church , Obo-Ogwashi,
whose name was not disclosed.
December 15, 2008
- 'Child witch killer' held
Police in south-east Nigeria have arrested "Bishop" Sunday Ulup-Aya
who claimed to have killed 110 child "witches". (...) But after his
arrest, he reportedly told the police he had only killed the "witches"
inside, not the children.
(...)
Mr Ulup-Aya was arrested in Akwa Ibom State after a child rights
campaigner led police to his church and negotiated a consultation
fee for an exorcism. He has now been charged with murder. Five
others have been arrested since the weekend and the state government
says more arrests are planned.
(...)
The fear of child witches is a relatively new phenomenon in Nigeria.
Belief in witchcraft is strong across the country but a fear of
child witches has become widespread in Akwa Ibom State since 1990s.
Now children are blamed for all kinds of misfortune that befalls
their families. They are abandoned or sold to child traffickers who
then indenture them as house-workers in other parts of Nigeria or
into prostitution. Others are violently exorcised to rid the child
of the "demons".
December 4, 2008
- Man kills 10-year old niece for ritual purposes
Spokesman Delta State Police officer Mr. Charles Muka said there was
ritual killing in Ovwian-Aladja of a ten year old girl called Loveth
by her uncle on December 6 (2008). Already, five suspects including
the uncle and two pastors have been arrested. He added that the
severed head of the girl and body have been recovered (...).
December 10, 2008
- The police in Lagos have a task to identify the killers of a man
who was butchered by suspected ritualists.
November 19. 2008
- Pastor confesses...We use human heads to prepare prosperity
rituals for church members
A pastor and his wife are now cooling their heels in police cell in
Benin-City for allegedly using human heads to prepare rituals for
church members. (...) The couple who gave their names as Benjamin
and Patience Ojobu were arrested last weekend allegedly with fresh
human head in their house, after the police got a petition alleging
that the couple engaged in using human skulls to prepare charms for
worshippers in their church. (...) You are a man of God in this
white garment church. Why are you involved in rituals?
Yes, I am a man of God. But I do this outside church hours. I am
both a native doctor and a man of God.
May 31, 2008
Police arrest couple for alleged ritual killing
The police in zone 5 Headquarters, Benin, has paraded a couple said
to be leaders of a white garment church in Asaba, Delta State, for
alleged involvement in ritual killing. The couple who gave their
names as Mr Benjamin Ojobu and Patience Ojobu were arrested last
weekend with fresh human head in their house, after the police got a
petition that the couple engaged in using human skulls to prepare
charms for worshippers in their church.
May 27, 2008
- Protest in Offa over ritual killings
Hundreds of market women in Kwara State protested yesterday on the
streets of the ancient town over the incessant cases of ritual
killings there in recent times. They later went to the palace of
Olofa of Offa, Oba Mustapha Olawore Olanipekun, Ariwajoye 11, urging
him to do everything within his means to stop the development before
it goes out of hand.
The aggrieved market women later marched to the local government
Secretariat to meet the Chairman, Mr. Segun Olawoyin. Speaking
later, the Olawoyin, who though confirmed the development said that
the person that was killed at Owode area of the town was a lunatic
and that the security agents were already working round the clock to
get the killer.
May 26, 2008
- Ritual killers do not deserve to live
Nigerian readers from all over the country reacting on The News
reporting on ritual killings:
(...)
I commend TheNEWS magazine for a research well conducted on the
spate of ritual killings in the country. But I would like to add
that some ritual killings in states like Edo, Adamawa and Taraba
were missing out from the report. All the same, it was an
interesting piece.
Funke Adejobi,
Yola.
(...)
The truth is that ritual killers live in virtually every
neighbourhood. We all know who they are. The reason they still
persist in their notorious act is that they are operating in a
corrupt society that encourages and condones them. It is time we
started asking ourselves serious questions.
Sanni Umaru,
Kano.
(...)
Our leaders are to blame for the existence of ritual killers in our
society. If we must put a stop to this ugly trend, we must first
begin to question how our leaders and rich men got their wealth. The
truth is that most of our leaders got their power and wealth through
ritual killings.
Ameh Idoko,
Otukpo.
April 15, 2008
- Otokoto again! Ritualists kill women, remove their private parts
Women of Inyi in Igboeze council of Enugu State are more like
endangered species now, following the recent murder of four
ladies by persons suspected to be ritual killers. The evildoers
reportedly slaughtered the hapless women and allegedly severed vital
organs of their bodies, thus instilling fear among the people of the
community.
March 16, 2008
-
Worsening spate of ritual killings
The chilling story of a four-year old girl, Timileyin Abiona, who was gruesomely
murdered by ritualists in Ayetoro, Ogun State, is a reflection of a society that
is fast becoming bestial. (...)
The poor girl was playing with her peers when the suspected murderers lured her
to their room. As the Ogun State Police Command revealed, the girl’s captors
strangulated and beheaded her and later dumped her torso in the bush. The police
apprehended two of the three suspects.
Since 2002 when seven people were sentenced to death by hanging for the 1996
ritual killing of an 11-year old boy and for masterminding clandestine killing
of many others in the infamous “Otokoto” saga, the police and the courts have
only recorded a few other breakthroughs in the investigations and convictions of
ritual murderers.
In February 2005, an Ogwashi Uku High Court in Delta State convicted three
people killing an albino infant boy for ritual purposes. But other highly
publicized cases, including the Okija Shrines horror, where 50 mutilated bodies
and 20 skulls were found in 2004, the Clifford Orji case in Lagos and the case
of a popular soap manufacturer accused of using human parts for rituals in Ogun
State, still remain in limbo.
(...)
The saddest part of the mindless business is that hundred of victims of ritual
murder and human sacrifice only get mentioned as missing persons in the media.
(...)
July 10, 2007
- Ritual Killings As Money-Spinner
(...)
She was grabbed by the neck and dragged into the room where life was
snuffed out of her.
July 10, 2007
- Commissioner of Police, Mr Joseph Apapa, said there had been a
rising incidence of ritual killings in the state. He paraded Owolabi
and four other suspects arrested in connection with the murder of
Timilehin before newsmen. He said that a similar incident occurred
in Sagamu, also in the state. "This thing is now rampant in this
state as some people are committed to exploiting quick means of
getting rich by killing innocent people in the process," Apapa said.
July 7, 2007
-
The Sokoto State High Court has sentenced
a 50 -year old former Police Sergeant , Malam Usman Maigari, who
hails from Musawa town in Katsina state to death for killing his
wife, Sa'adatu on 11th January, 1999. (...) Justice Abbas said
the convict killed his wife for ritual purposes, adding that the
dastardly act perpetrated by him was a culpable homicide.
July 2, 2007
-
Ritualists are again on the prowl in and
around Awka , the Anambra State capital, with the latest victim
being 16 year-old-boy, Master Chika Eziegbuna, student of
Comprehensive Secondary School Nawfia who was found dead in a
farm land at Umukabia Amawbia , Awka South local government area.
June 3, 2007
-
(...) so when one of the communities
discovered a body on a farm with signs of ritual killing, they
believed the rival community was responsible. That sparked off
the clashes,"
Februari 23, 2007
- Cleric warns against thuggery, political killing
Barely three months to the 2007 general election, politicians
have been charged to shun thuggery and assassinations as such is
capable of destroying the country’s nascent democracy.
Rev. Daddy Hezekaih, founder and leader of the Living Christ Mission
gave this charge in Onitsha while chatting with newsmen.
He called on politicians and aspirants to imbibe the fear of God,
and added that politics should not be seen as a do or die affair but
as a game where God should be allowed to choose a leader for the
nation. “Let us allow God to choose a leader for us, this cannot be
gotten through thuggery, ritual killing and assassinations of
political opponents,” he said.
February 2, 2007
- Police Arrest 50 in Abule-Oko Over Killing of Suspected
Ritualists
Fifty persons are currently in police net in Abule-Oko, Ifo
local government area of Ogun State in connection with the killing,
last Sunday, of a Lagos businessman and an herbalist who were
accused of killing a two-year-old baby for ritual.
January 29, 2007
- Orbed Igwe, the man who exposed the evil that took place in
Okija says the ritualists are back:
"What is actually happening now is that these people (priests)
have returned to their old despicable ways. In fact, they are more
vehement and brazen in their operations now than ever. They have now
formed what they call MASSOB Youths. They parade with sophisticated
guns, axe, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons. How they came
about the guns I don’t know." He said that they are holding
the community by the throat, terrorising and killing people.
July 18, 2006
- The town of Funtua in Katsina state, was once again, Monday 10th
July, 2006 thrown into mourning as dare devil ritualists struck and
killed a five year old girl, Aisha Muhammed Saminu. It could be
recalled that it was only last month in Funtua that the ritualists
killed a 12 year old girl Hafsat Ahmed in a similar circumstances.
July 15, 2006
- Bauchi Police Nabs Serial Killer
One Abami Yohanna, a suspected serial killer who was said to
specialise in maiming his victims and cutting off their heads for
ritual purposes has been arrested by the police in Luka Zwal village
in Tafawa Balewa Local Government area of Bauchi State.
July 15, 2006
- Two sentenced to death for ritual killing
June 12, 2006
- Having gone missing for four days, a
12-yr old schoolgirl’s severed, shaven head was found in a swamp. A
ritual murder?
June 10, 2006
- Police nab four suspected ritualists
in Benin City
June 2, 2006
- Recently, there have been several reported cases of individuals who
were kidnapped, killed, or had their bodies mutilated by ritualists
in Nigeria. The most notorious of them is the one associated with
one Chief Vincent Duru, popularly known as Otokoto.
March 16, 2006
- Mrs Grace Asiyuput, a.k.a. Mama Monday was found naked in a small
store behind British America Tobacco Company within the Railway
Quarters in Zaria. (...) She had been killed, her eyes gouged out,
tongue cut, while her private parts had been mutilated, fuelling
suspicions of a ritual killing.
February
11, 2006
- Lynching of Benin Wizard
The jungle justice meted out to a suspected wizard in Benin City
barely a week ago has once again raised fears that another round of
witch-hunting and lynching may be about to happen in the Edo State
capital. The incident also raises the larger question of pervading
belief in the existence of witchcraft in Nigeria and Edo State in
particular.
January 18, 2006
- The mass resort to myth, superstition and ritual killings in the
search for solutions to economic questions of poverty, jobs,
security, reveals the growing frustration and desperation among
layers of the poor working masses as living conditions become more
and more terrible.
November 12, 2005
- Hanging for ritual murder
A Nigerian man who killed his friend in central Plateau state to
sell his body parts for ritual witchcraft purposes has been
sentenced to death by hanging. Jacob Wakfan, 35, confessed to luring
his victim into the bush and stabbing him and removing his penis and
tongue.
(...)
Belief in witchcraft or "juju" is widespread in Nigeria. According
to the BBC's Yusuf Sarki Muhammad in Abuja, despite condemnation of
traditional ritual killings, they are common across the country - in
the Muslim north and the Christian south. Last week, police in the
south-western city of Ibadan found three headless bodies in what
they suspect are ritual killing murders.
(...)
March 17, 2005
- This week the mutilated remains of a black man were found floating
in a Dublin canal. His torso was sliced in half, he was
missing his limbs - and most importantly as far as gardai are
concerned - his head. Now, acting on information from ritual killing
experts in Nigeria, gardai are investigating the possibility that
the victim was sacrificed for a money-making ritual.
April 3, 2005
- Barely one month after the conviction in the United Kingdom of a
Nigerian, Kingsley Ojo for the brutal murder of a five year old boy
named Adam, police in the Republic of Ireland are questioning two
men arrested in Dublin in connection with the murder of the daughter
of Malawi’s chief justice.
August 19, 2004
- Nigerian police say they have found a further 33 bodies in addition
to the 50 already uncovered in fetish shrines in south-eastern
Anambra state.
A traditional cult reputed to carry out ritual killings is thought
to have carried out the murders.
August
13,
2004
- Ritual Killing And Pseudoscience In Nigeria
(...)
Recently, there have been several reported cases of individuals who
were kidnapped, killed, or had their bodies mutilated by ritualists
in Nigeria. The most notorious of them is the one associated with
one Chief Vincent Duru, popularly known as Otokoto.
It happened this way: In 1996, the police in the southern Nigerian
city of Owerri arrested a man, Innocent Ekeanyanwu, with the head of
a young boy, Ikechukwu Okonkwo. In the course of the investigation,
the police discovered the buried torso of Ikechukwu on the premises
of Otokoto Hotel, owned by Chief Duru, and uncovered a syndicate
that specialized in ritual killing and the sale and procurement of
human parts. The horrifying discoveries sparked off violent protests
in the city of Owerri which led to the burning and looting of
properties belonging to suspected killers. Otokoto and his ritualist
syndicate were arrested and put on trial, and in February 2003, they
were sentenced to death by hanging.
Apart from the Otokoto incident, there have been other instances of
ritual murder and mutilation in other parts of the country. For
instance, in Calabar, two men plucked out the eyes of a young lady,
Adlyne Eze, for money-making ritual. And in Ifo, Ogun state, a
businessman inflicted the same harm on his younger sister. In Ibadan,
the police in December arrested a taxi driver, Abbas, who used his
fourteen-month-old baby for rituals. Abbas killed his child in order
to secure a human head, which was one of the materials listed for
him by a local witchdoctor for a money-making ritual.
And in another act of ritual horror in Onitsha, Anambra State, two
young men, Tobechukwu Okorie and Peter Obasi, seized a boy, Monday
Emenike, and cut off his sexual organ with the intention of
delivering it to a man, who allegedly offered to pay 1.5 million
naira ($11,000) for it. In Kaduna, Danladi Damina was arrested after
he exhumed the corpse of a 9-year-old boy, plucked out his eyes and
cut off his lips, intending to use them for charms. Recently a woman
was caught in a bush in Warri, Delta State, decapitating a
four-year-old boy for ritual purposes. And while writing this piece,
I read in The Guardian (Nigeria) a report of the murder of an
18-year-old girl, identified as Chioma, by suspected ritualists in
Mbaise, Imo State.
(...)
But ritual killing is not a practice limited to Nigeria. Ritual
sacrifices also occur in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, like in
Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Uganda, etc. In
fact in some parts of Uganda, a child is sacrificed before a major
building is erected.
(...)
In 2001, there were so many cases of ritual killing in the Lagos
metropolis that one of the nation's major newspapers, The Punch,
published a scary headline: "Ritualists Lay Siege to Lagos."
(...)
June 2004
- Following the reported rise in ritual killings during satanic
rituals in various parts of Africa, particularly Nigeria in order to
obtain political positions, economic and social power and the
collusion of top ranking government officials, Freedom and Justice
International, Inc. is calling for multilateral effort to stop the
practice.
March
1,
2004
- Ritual Killings Resurface on the Campus
NIGERIA. Tough measures, including dismissal and life sentences,
introduced in the 1990s to curb the activities of cults in the
higher institutions of learning in NIGERIA seem to be failing.
September 19, 2003
- A 13-year-old girl has been arrested in northeast Nigeria
over the ritual-linked killings of 51 people, including her father,
police said on Friday. (...) The girl, detained in Maiduguri, also
spoke to the state-run Radio Kaduna and admitted a role in some
killings, saying she was a member of a cult led by one 'Emmanuel'.
July 30, 2001
- Nigerian Student Cults
(see ritual killings in Ekpoma)
Undated
|
Prevalence of ritual murder and human sacrifice, 2000 - 2005, and
reaction by Government of Nigeria
Publication date:
July 22, 2005
Published by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada / UNHCR
An important document
Link to this document
Ritual Killing hotspots in 2009!
"The Nigeria police wishes to advise all to avoid the following places
as they have been identified as hot spots for Ritual Killings":
Follows a list of places in Ogun State (3), Lagos State (1), Lagos city
(3), Anambra State (1), Abia State (1), Rivers State (1), Kwara State
(1), Kogi State (1), Kaduna State (3), Kaduna city (3).
October 9,
2009 (weblog)
Scroll to October 9, 2009 in case the posting has been moved - FVDK
also:
Global Post, October 9
Albinos... the hunted species
About albinos in Nigeria
April 2, 2009
Read the fascinating story of Jankara market on Lagos Island - is it
true or is it false? The Jankara market is described here as a
market where human parts sell.
Warning: The story contains a shocking picture.
Jankara market is located close to the Idumagbo area of Lagos Island,
the market is just a stretch of an old street.
(...)
A week ago, our reporter posed as a juju priest who was in dire need of
human body parts for urgent rituals.
(...)
The business is all about raw cash. A fresh human head has a street
value of N250,000. Fresh internal organs like heart, lung, kidney, and
so on go for 500,000 a piece. Other vital parts like penis, vagina and
breast costs N50,000 each. Fresh tongue is sold at N100,000.
(...)
“The corpses and body parts may be the handwork of ritualist and
hit-and-run drivers”, he said.
(...)
February 15, 2009
Nigerians: Living in the shadow of death
(...) While ritual killings are common in Lagos, Port-Harcourt and some
parts of the Eastern States, people mostly get bored by incessant cases
of child trafficking and robbery incidents in Benin and religious
killings in Kaduna and some other volatile parts of the interior north.
What makes the situation more serious is Nigerians inability to trust
their law enforcement agents for protection. In that wise, the Apo
killing in Abuja and many other crimes committed by the police for mere
pittance as low as N20 at road blocks give them off as murderers in
uniform.
June 1, 2008
The Gospel of Distrust: the Ritual Killing of Human Beings in Nigeria
This essay focuses on what ritual killing signifies for the believers.
Source: International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU)
May 2008
Money Rituals are a part of pseudoworld belief that the use of
spells, charms and sacrifices can create wealth for individuals. Such
rituals are practiced in various parts of Africa and probably other
parts of the world. In Nigeria, films like 'Blood Money' have
permanently imprinted money rituals and their resulting blood money as a
part of the nation's discourse. Frequent news reports of the practice
such as a Plateau state resident killing his friend to sell body parts
for rituals and other recent reports ensure that money rituals are
entrenched in the social fabric of the nation. There are even websites
that track Nigerian news for stories on Money Rituals.
May 6, 2008 more....
Ritual killing and pseudoscience in Nigeria
(...)
Generally, ritual killing is a common practice in Nigeria. Every year,
hundreds of Nigerians lose their lives to ritual murderers, also known
as headhunters.
These head hunters go in search of human parts-head, breast, tongue,
sexual organs-at the behest of witchdoctors, juju priests, and
traditional medicine men who require them for some sacrifices or for the
preparation of assorted magical potions.
(...)
The question is: why do Nigerians still engage in such bloody, brutal,
and barbaric acts and atrocities even in the twenty-first century? For
me, there are three reasons:
1) Religion: Nigeria is a deeply religious society. Most Nigerians
believe in the existence of supernatural beings and that these
transcendental entities can be influenced through ritual acts and
sacrifices. Rituals constitute part of the people's traditional
religious practice and observance. Nigerians engage in ritual acts to
appease the gods, seek supernatural favours, or to ward off misfortune.
Many do so out of fear of unpleasant spiritual consequences if they
default. So religion, theism, supernaturalism, and occultism are at the
root of ritual killing in Nigeria.
2)Superstition: Nigeria is a society where most beliefs are still
informed by unreason, dogmas, myth making, and magical thinking. In
Nigeria, belief in ghosts, juju, charms, and witchcraft is prevalent and
widespread. Nigerians believe that magical potions prepared with human
heads, breasts, tongues, eyes, and sexual organs can enhance one's
political and financial fortunes; that juju, charms and amulets can
protect individuals against business failures, sickness and diseases,
accidents, and spiritual attacks. In fact, ritual-making is perceived as
an act of spiritual fortification.
3)Poverty: Most often, Nigerians engage ritual killing for money-making
purposes. Among Nigerians, there is a popular belief in a special kind
of ritual, performed with human blood or body parts that can bring money
or wealth, even though such a belief lacks any basis in reason, science
or common sense.
For example, there has never been a single proven instance of any
Nigerian who became rich through a moneymaking ritual.
(...)
There is therefore an urgent need for an international campaign to end
this murderous practice and other horrifying traditions and
superstitions in Africa. Personally, I am recommending that the United
Nations' Inter-Africa Committee includes ritual killing in its programs
and campaigns as a harmful traditional practice.
(...)
Also see # 32
Leo Igwe - June 2004
Lin Anderson:
'It was the grimmest of discoveries. On the afternoon of September 21,
2001, a member of the public spotted something floating down the River
Thames in London. But it was only as it passed under Tower Bridge that
they realised it was a body. Or to be more precise, a torso.'
Bookreview
Adam
(...)
In September 2001, the mutilated body of "Boy Adam" was found by the
British Police floating in the River Thames, near Tower Bridge in London.
A top police source suspected that Adam might have been a victim of a
style of ritual killing practiced in west and southern Africa. And
forensic examination revealed that Adam lived in southwestern Nigeria.
(...)
In July, Police arrested a 37-year-old Nigerian, Sam Onogigovie (in
Dublin), and twenty-one other Nigerians in Britain in connection with
the murder of Adam. (...)
June 2004
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