It is fast becoming an everyday occurrence across the country. In recent times, thousands of people lose their lives in an inexplicable manner. In fact, hardly does any day pass without the gory news of people being murdered in most gruesome manner for ritual purpose.
Almost on a daily basis, many police stations nationwide are flooded with reports of missing persons. Available records, according to reports, show that less than 10 per cent of such persons ever return home. While a scary 90 per cent of them are never found.
The bodies of a negligible number eventually seen are dumped either on the roadsides, bush paths or inside gutters. They are often mutilated and their vital organs removed. A few weeks back, there were shock waves across the nation, as cases of the discovery of kidnappers’ dens in parts of Lagos metropolis surfaced in the media.
The most notable being the one at Obadeyi in Ijaye area of the state. As revealed by the then state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, the dungeon was discovered through the joint efforts of security agents and members of the public.
The den was reportedly discovered after a highway sweeper with the Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) raised the alarm when she heard the voice of a woman calling for help from the canal. Following the discovery, the Lagos State police command arrested seven persons suspected to be ritual killers. As this was still raging, another hideout of suspected kidnappers emerged in Ile-Zik, near Ikeja.
The Ikorodu axis of Lagos State has, for some time now, also assumed a kind of notoriety on issues of suspected ritual killings. Badoo cult group has held a firm grip of this area which they have literarily turned to a den of terror. In most of their operations, they would enter into target homes after cutting the burglar-proof bars and hack their victims to death.
“The private parts of a woman were messed up in one of their evil operations. And they often rape their female victims and use them for rituals,” a resident of Ikorodu, said. Similar cases of underground dens as sites of dark practices are not also new in other parts of the country, according to reports. One of the most shocking was the ‘forest of horror’ in the Soka area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. It was reportedly chanced on by a motorbike rider.
The forest had over 20 decomposed human bodies and hundreds of human skulls at the time of the discovery. About 20 people were rescued from it. Behind all of these, however, is the desire for illicit wealth by misguided individuals. They are, unfortunately, in large numbers.
Scores of people thronged the Oyo State police headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan to catch a glimpse of the four suspected ritual killers. They could not hold back their tears as one of the suspects, Tunde Jimoh, gave a chilling description of how they tricked their victim, Akintoye Oyeyemi, into a deep forest and murdered him in cold blood. Looking deceitfully innocent, Jimoh said: “I am a business man who deals in cashew nuts. My brother’s friend came to him and said he would pay the sum of N10 million for a business transaction.
When he was saying this, my friend was with me, he then sold an idea to me that we should kidnap him and rob him of the money. “The victim called us that he was coming to Ajase; it was there we kidnapped him. After moving deep into Igbo Nla (thick forest), I parked the bike that we used. I then pointed the gun at him. He was afraid and surprised. He then said was it because of the money he had on him that we wanted to kill him. He dropped his bag and started running away.
I shot and killed him. We then took his bag and found only N100,000 and some clothes in it.” Recently, another report of ritual murders including that of one-year-old Success lme in Calabar, hugged media headlines. Her heart was reportedly ripped out from her small body.
This was discovered in a church along with other items for occult rituals. There is also the case of Pastor Samuel Okpara in Ahoada East Local Government Area of Imo State, who was kidnapped, killed and cannibalised by suspected ritual killers.
Okpara was purportedly beheaded and his liver and intestines allegedly used for pepper soup and plantain porridge. His was also a horrific narrative. In Minna, Niger State, Abdulrashed Aminu, 22, and Ismaila Mohammed, 27, were equally caught with a fresh human head about 9pm along Minna Paikoro road’s junction during a stop and search operation not too long ago. The beheaded eight-year-old boy was later identified as Hassan Abubakar of Bakajeba village in Paiko Local Government area of the state, according to police.
Not too long ago, a Nigerian woman living in Bavarian, Germany, who identified herself simply as Mrs F. Owodunni, alleged foul play after his 20-year-old son visiting Nigeria was said to have committed suicide. She doubted such claim and insisted that her son may have been killed for ritual purposes. According to a petition she sent to the Federal Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Homicide Section, Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos, Owodunni said she started suspecting underhand dealings after people close to the boy began to avoid her phone calls while the boy was with them in Nigeria.
She said: “I am writing a petition about the suspected murder of my son, Edwin, 20, and I am a citizen of Germany. My son had been coming to Nigeria to visit his father and this trip was his fourth. Edwin came to Nigeria on March 16, for the burial of his paternal grandmother in the village at Owerri.
“He was expected to return to Germany on April 7. He was communicating with me (via phone). He called on April 12, to inform that he had extended his flight to May 12, as he wanted to spend more time with his father.
That was the last time the family here in Germany heard from Edwin. All efforts to reach Edwin’s father proved abortive. All efforts to reach my son also proved abortive. “But to our surprise, we were told that Edwin had committed suicide.
We got this news on June 26, while he allegedly committed suicide about three months ago in his father’s village in Owerri.” She said the boy was buried without her knowledge. This fueled her suspicion that her son may have been a victim of ritual killing.
“To this end, we want the police to thoroughly investigate this case to unravel the mystery behind the death of my son,” she begged. Ernest Nmezuwoba, father of Victory Chikamso, the eight-year-old girl abducted, raped and killed by suspect, Ifeanyi Dike, the 200 level Physics student of the University of Port Harcourt, who recently escaped from police custody in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, is also lamenting. Nmezuwoba said his joy has been cut short and that he may never recover from the trauma the death of his beloved son has left him with.
There are countless other outpouring of anguish by parents and relatives of those suspected to have been killed for ritual purposes. Incidentally, such nuisances are often not enough to deter the evil doers. Early in the year, a Mass Communication undergraduate of the Cross River State University of Technology, Joy Odama, reportedly died in circumstances believed by her parents to be ritualistic. She was said to have gone to the home of an Alhaji to seek financial help with the knowledge of her mother.
In another case, a 300-Level student of the Benue State University, Grace Onaivi, went missing and her body later found, mutilated with some parts missing, in a manner suspected to be ritual killing. Her corpse was dumped along a road in Lokoja, Kogi State. Also, a 400-Level student of the Osun State University, Rofiat Damilola Adebisi, was reportedly killed in a similar manner while on her way to a religious programme. Just like that of Onaivi, her corpse was also discovered two days later with vital parts missing.
Two suspects who were arrested confessed she was kidnapped and “sold” to a herbalist for N10,000. Just recently, a 16-year-old secondary school student, Raimi Fatai, equally suffered the same fate in Abeokuta, Ogun State. His killing was said to have followed the administration of suspected liquid substance on him by his three classmates during a moneymaking ritual. Before then, the Ondo State Police Command had arrested a 44-year-old, Shaba Samuel, for allegedly beheading his three-year old niece, Dieko Adunbarin for same purpose at Ikara Akoko area of the state. Everywhere, hundreds of Nigerians lose their lives to ritual murderers.
The killers usually go in search of human parts such as head, breast, tongue and sexual organs at the request of shamans, juju priests, and traditional medicine practitioners. These witchdoctors often require these parts for some sacrifices or for the preparation of assorted magical potions.
The beliefs in dogmas, myth, and magical thinking, many believe, fuel this evil practices. Ignorance, poverty, desperation, gullibility, and irrationalism, hold others hostage to this brutal act. Regrettably, many of those suspected to be ritual killers, even when they are arrested, often escape the long hands of the law.
[copied from Niaja News and Events]
which ironically is built in the same compound with her parents . Till date perpetrators of the dastardly act are yet to be fished out. Suspected ritualist arrested A week earlier, precisely August 20, another lifeless body of an eight-year-old girl, Chikamso Victory , was found in the apartment of one Ifeanyi Chukwu Dike (23) at Messiah street , Eliozu area of Port Harcourt . Helpless and defenseless Victory was not only abducted by Dike, she was raped before she was killed. As at the time her body was recovered, some parts had been removed. They included her vagina, eyes, tongue and breasts which the suspect kept in a polythene bag awaiting the appropriate time to take them to his contacts. He was however, arrested by members of a local vigilante group while going to dispose of the body. But the incident assumed a laughable dimension following report by the Police that the suspect had disappeared from custody. Elsewhere in Oyo state, on March 30, 2017 , a suspected ritualist, Tunde Jimoh, who was arrested by the Police, gave a chilling description of how he and other members of his gang abducted their victim, Akintoye Oyeyemi, took him into a deep forest and murdered him in cold blood. Thereafter, they took the body to a Muslim cleric to prepare concoction for money rituals for him. At the end of the day, the wrists, heart and legs were cut off. Luck ran out on the suspect while on his way to dump the body in the bush. Not too long ago, reports had it that an evil forest used as ritualists’ den was uncovered in Enugu state with the recovery of fresh and decomposing human parts . The nation’s Federal Capital Territory is not speared from the rising trend of killing for rituals. Late last year, a dismembered body of an unidentified lady was recovered at the Lower Usuma Dam junction, along Dutse-Bwari Road . One of her breasts was cut off, while the rest of the body was cut into two from the abdomen, an indication that the killing was for ritual. Badoo ritual killing In Lagos state, the commercial hub of the country, different methods are devised by ritualists. One of such was the surge in the killing of residents by members of a dreaded cult group identified as Badoo Boys in Ikorodu area of Lagos. So far, over 50 persons have had their lives snuffed out of them by the perpetrators who were initially thought to be invisible, until they were decimated by the Police , under the watch of the new Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Mr Edgar Imohimi, while he was the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of operations. Before the raid and subsequent arrest of over 200 suspected members of the cult group by the Police with the support of the Oodua peoples Congress, OPC local vigilante and the Neighborhood Watch Corps, Badoo Boys had been unleashing an orgy of killings, during which they used heavy stones to crush the skulls of their victims. Their modus operandi included storming victims’ residences while they are asleep. It is suspected that they usually hypnotize their victims, as none of them had ever been conscious of their presence. They would, thereafter, smash heads of their victims with a grinding stone and after which they use a handkerchief to clean the blood and brain before leaving the scene. During interrogation, one of the suspects confirmed that each handkerchief stained with blood was sold for N500,000 . He further revealed that they were mere errand boys for rich politicians within and outside Lagos state. But in their case , the blood and semen stained handkerchief were used to prepare spiritual defence for well to do Nigerians. Mad people in disguise The latest method devised is the feigning of madness by these criminal elements. Recently in Lagos, some persons who disguised as lunatics were discovered to be using tunnels as dens for their activities. Two instances of note were along Lagos-Abeokuta road and Ile Zik, along Agege Motor road. The latest was an uncovered ritualits’ den Wednesday , at Challege bus-stop , Mushin, where some suspected members who posed as lunatics were found with sophisticated phones, four ATM cards and over 100 syringes with blood stains. One of the suspects was lynched by a mob while two others were rescued by policemen from Area ‘D’ command, Mushin. Not too long Nigerians received with shock, news of a den in Soka village, Oluyole Local Government area of Oyo state, where about 20 corpses, majority of which were earlier declared missing by their relatives, were found while 18 victims were rescued. From all indications, it was obvious that the den had been existing for long before it was uncovered, following a heap of victims’ clothes. One of the rescued victims was reported to have said he was kidnapped in Ogun while attending an interview. The most celebrated ritual killing appeared to be the notorious Otokoto saga in Owerri, Imo State where a businessman belonging to a cult was alleged to have used his apprentice for ritual. The boy’s corpse was later exhumed at the premises of Otokoto Hotel. It exposed many other bizarre acts in hotels. Religious leaders also involved One would have expected such primitive acts to be going down, going by the increasing religious groups in the country. Regrettably, some leaders of religious have been caught in the act. But investigations have shown that many evil men only use religion as a cover up. They are never true religious leaders. One of the ready cases that comes to mind was that of the arrest of a Pastor who allegedly killed a seven-year-old boy and buried his head where the church’s alter was mounted. 
This action was to ensure the influx of members into the church located at Odokekere/ Odogunyan in Ikorodu area of Lagos state . Elsewhere in Edo state and Ogun states, some pastors were also arrested over similar acts. Few months ago, an unidentified woman who left her abode in Sango Otta area of Ogun in search of spiritual cleansing at the place of a Muslim cleric popularly called Alfa , in Badagry area of Lagos, ended up being victim of ritual killing. A 61-year-old landlord, Toafeek Hassan, who confessed to have slaughtered the woman , was found with her fresh human head and other body parts which were to be used to prepare concoction by the alfa, Investigation shows that female parts are more in demand than their male counterparts. This is because of what was described as the potency of some parts like the breasts and lower private parts in money rituals and other purposes by herbalists and occult groups. Ritual used to elongate life —suspect One of the herbalists who spoke with Vanguard at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, SCIID , Oseni Bello, admitted to be preparing concoction with human body parts but said he was not involved in the killings. Oseni disclosed that some of the rituals were done to elongate lives . He added that the heart was used to prepare concoction for boldness and fear. He stated further that virgins and babies on the other hand , were used by some politicians and government officials for ritual purposes as their blood is said to be used to elongate the user’s life span as well as fortify them against spiritual attacks. These are some of the reasons, he said, killings for rituals are on the increase. A particular case in mind was that of a South-West politician alleged to have been caught by his driver with a dissected day-old baby whose blood he was drinking. The incident as reported two years ago, occurred inside a bush, while the driver was taking his boss (names withheld) to a function. Half way into the journey, the politician was said to have ordered his driver to pull over. He thereafter, alighted and headed for a bush with a promise to be back. Having waited without any sight of his boss, the ignorant and curious driver reportedly went in search for him,only to meet him stark naked and pouring the blood of a dissected baby into his mouth. Barely two weeks later, the driver reportedly died under mysterious circumstance. The event that occurred before his death was related by a Pastor friend whom the deceased confided in before his demise. The lust for money and power drives these people into ritual killings. While some kill to achieve this unfathomable dream, others resort to digging graves and removing needed human parts for ritual purpose. Saturday Vanguard scooped that most guards at cemeteries connive with agents to sell human parts. It was learnt that if a fresh human head is needed, an agent will contact some cemetery workers ahead. In this case, the cemetery official will be on the look out for fresh dead bodies, preferably those of Muslims who are usually buried within 24 hours after death. Immediately the body is interred, they exhume the body at night, cut off the needed parts and place the body back in the grave. Human parts for sale Those who patronize cemetery officials are usually herbalists, herbal traders and even prominent Nigerians who usually use middle men. Surprisingly, human parts are sold in some markets in Nigeria. We gathered that a fresh human head could go for N60,000 ( $167.27) and above, while a skull is sold for N20,000 ($55.70). Fresh legs are sold for N30,000 ($82.00) each while a decomposed leg is sold for N20,000 ($56.00). A fresh finger is sold for N5,000 each while the decomposed is sold for 3,000. Fresh intestines are sold for N20,000 while dry ones are sold for N5000. Pieces of fresh bones are sold for N2,000 and above. Public react Reacting to the upsurge , the president, Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria , AISSON Dr. Ona. Ekhomu called on the Nigeria Police to set up Special Ritual Murder Squads in various State Commands to focus on the investigation, detection, arrest and prosecution of ritual killers. He said that the high incidence of serial ritual killings demands an urgent action at the level of the police high command. According to the first chartered security professional in West Africa, citizens were rapidly losing faith in the ability of the police agency to detect and punish ritual killers. This, he said was responsible for the increase in lynching of suspects as members of the public resort to jungle justice to get redress for the heinous murders. Said he: “The conscience of Nigerians should be troubled by reports of recent ritual murders including that of one-year-old Success lme in Calabar whose heart was ripped out from her small body for ritual purposes and was discovered in a Church along with other items for occult rituals. There is also the case of Pastor Samuel Okpara in Ahoada East LGA of Imo State who was kidnapped, killed and cannibalized by ritualists. The pastor was reportedly beheaded and his liver and intestines used for pepper soup and plantain porridge. What a horrific occurrence?” He also decried the excesses of the Baddoo murder cult in Ikorodu Lagos State , saying it was a direct challenge to the Police. Economic recession in the land is not a license to commit ritual murder. Impunity encourages to
Babylon Today 
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