This rising culture of nihilism and zero introspection among the youths today is also traceable to undue publicity and validation of morally decrepit individuals that we elevate to the status of ‘influencer’.
The incidence of killings for ritual purposes is on the increase in Nigeria. There seems to be little or no effort by appropriate government agencies to forestall the spike. Every Nigerian should be troubled by reports of recent ritual killings in the country. Judging by the proliferation of churches and mosques littered in all nooks and crannies of the country, one would expect that such cruel and barbaric act would no longer exist in our society. Sadly, while developed countries are focused on advancing in science and technology, some Nigerians are still in the practice of sacrificing humans for financial breakthrough, safety and protection from business failure, illness, accidents and even spiritual attacks. In an attempt to discuss the rising incidence of ritual killings in Nigeria, the following questions must be answered; what is ritual killing? How do ritual killers get their victims? What does the law say about ritual killing? Why the rising incidence of ritual killing? How can we curb this menace? What is ritual killing? When a Nigerian hears about ritual killing, what immediately comes to his mind is rituals done to acquire wealth. This is called ọgwụ ego, ógún owó, tsafin kudi in Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa language respectively. Ritual killing is so prevalent in Nigeria that it has dominated our movie scenes in Nollywood. There is arguably no Nigerian who is not familiar with terms like Yahoo plus, cut soap, kayamata, touch-and-follow, and cultism which are usually associated with ritual killing. The Free Dictionary defines ritual killing as the act of Killing an animal or person in order to propitiate a deity. Ritual killing essentially involves the idea of human sacrifice for spiritual purposes. Ritualists go in search of potential victims at the request of herbalists, who require their body parts for sacrifices or for preparation of various magical portions. Who are the target victims? No one is particularly exempted from the ritualists’ target list. But, some vulnerable members of the society are more susceptible as targets. Such vulnerable members include; children, women, elderly people, people with disabilities as well as family members of ritualists. An academic journal on kidnapping in Nigeria from researchers in Ambrose Alli University in Ekpoma, Edo State, states that traditional targets of ritual kidnapping are “children, lunatics, and the physically challenged.” (Osumah and Aghedo June 2011, 279). Those with hunchback are one of the most endangered persons with disabilities. There have been several rumours alleging the killing of hunchback for ritual purposes. A newspaper reported that “suspected ritualists abduct, murder Kogi hunchback.” (PUNCH 14 Dec. 2020). How do ritual killers get their victim? Ritual killers hide under different covers to get their victims. Most of their activities are cloaked in disguise. For some, they kidnap their victims from various strategic points. Others pretend to be commercial bus drivers, picking up unsuspecting commuters at bus-stop only to take them to their hideout. Other ritualists hypnotize their unsuspecting victims when they try to answer some questions thrown at them by these ritualists. Consequently, the victims lose their consciousness. PUNCH of 16 May 2021 reported a story about an 18-year-old auxiliary nurse, Rachael David, who escaped death at the hands of ritual killers in Rivers State. Reacting to how she was captured, PUNCH wrote that “the teenager had gone to buy something at the junction and was returning home when a motorist signalled to her, asking her for directions to Bitter Leaf Junction. As she was describing the place to the driver, she was hypnotized and lost her senses until she arrived at an unknown destination “. Alleged ritual killer, Uduak Akpan, who confessed to have murdered Late Miss Iniubong Umoren, said he used “reverse psychology” on her. He lured, raped and eventually killed his victim for a phony job offer. What does the law say about ritual killing? According to the Criminal Code (1990) of Nigeria, a person who commits murder will be sentenced to death (Nigeria 1990, Sec. 319(1)). Similarly, a person found in possession of a human head or skull within six months of its removal from a body or skeleton can be sentenced to five years in prison (ibid., Sec. 329A(1)). The Criminal Code also states that any person who; claims to have the power of witchcraft, possesses any human remains which are used or intended to be used in connection with the worship or invocation of any juju, possesses anything which has been prohibited by an order as being or believed to be associated with human sacrifice, is guilty of a misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for two years. (ibid., Sec. 210). Some recent incidents of ritual killing? Vanguard of 21 February 2021 reported that a popular prophetess and her accomplice, Felicia Nwafor-(80 years) and Rejoice Raymond-(39 years) respectively, has been arrested in Onitsha, Anambra State, for pounding little kids alive. During Police raid in her building, three children were found with their hands and legs tied. The entire room where she kept the children had blood stains alongside fetish items, including a mortar and multiple pestles, blood-stained canes, concoction and more. This dastardly act assumed a cannibalistic dimension following the gory videos of suspected yahoo boys who were eating live chicken as a native doctor performed ritual on them. The expression on their faces showed that they ate the live chicken with relish probably because of the anticipated benefits obtainable from such barbaric act. In 2017, Lagosians were frightened by Badoo Boys group who reportedly killed over 50 people. According to reports, this group usually hypnotize their victims, making them unconscious of their presence. After which, they would smash the heads of their victims with grinding stones and they will use a handkerchief to clean the blood and brain matter before leaving the scene. During interrogation, Vanguard reported that one of the suspects confirmed that “they sold each handkerchief stained with blood for #500,000”. He further revealed that “they were mere errand boys for the rich
The series of unfortunate events (dearth of National cum internal security due to over concentration on Regime Security) in the past 3years in Nigeria clearly demonstrate that there is no rights to personal liberty in Nigeria. Despite the fact that the clarity of the 1999 constitution as amended on that matter is obvious to the blind- “Every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person, and accordingly, no person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment.” — Section 34 (1) The Impunity of our police service especially those of the special Anti-Robbery Squad is alarming. The purpose of policing has since be altered for some evil agenda weaponized against the innocent citizenry, with an unwritten clear mandate to terrorize the youth of our nation based on recent data as mined by the #EndSARS #ReformPoliceNG Movement over one year of advocacy. There are growing Concerns on adolescent killings across Nigeria. — Emeka Ojinze obtained his VISA to the UAE to study alternative energy sources but was killed in the Anambra in 2017) by a Policeman seeking to extort him, He was 23. Angela Nkechi Igwetu, a corper in Abuja, with just a few hours to passing out, but was gunned down by a trigger happy Police officer. She was 23. Richard Peter Gora was tortured to death by Policemen over a N10,000 Phone he allegedly bought in the market, purported by police to have been stolen in Kaduna. He was 22. Sofiyat Yekin, a nursing mother in Bodija Ibadan, Oyo State, was gunned down by a police while displaying their show of force while intimidating innocent youth in the area for extortion. She was 23. Final year student Salisu Haruna, plunged to his death in a well in Ekpoma Edo State, while trying to escape the religious abduction by the special anti-cultist squad (SACS) that terrorizes the hostel he visited. He wasn’t found until days later. He was 23. Mrs Kudirat was killed by the bullet of SARS operatives showing force and high handedness while chasing young boys perceived indiscriminately by them to be yahoo boys. There are many others shot in the head in public, and several okada riders & bus drivers killed over bribes. Studies also have shown that over 2000 persons have been killed extrajudicially in the past 10years by the police without any closure on the cases and a plethora of cases of abduction and unjust incarceration without charges running into thousands across Nigeria. Suffice to say that the abuse of human rights in Nigeria is becoming a culture. It is helpful to think about what keeps criminals under control in our society. Ask any sane police officer globally: it is not the police and the courts who keep criminals at bay. It is the society as a whole. It is the ordinary people who call the police when they hear a problem starting. It is the ordinary people who trust the police and cooperate with them to bring criminals to justice. That public trust is held by a thin line which only works when it is backed up by the vast majority of ordinary people. This, by the way, is why police brutality is so damaging to law and order in our society. If ordinary people lose trust in the police, they wonʼt call and they wonʼt cooperate. If they fear that calling the police to solve crime could result in their neighborsʼ kids being shot dead, they wonʼt call. And they also wonʼt cooperate in more serious cases. Without community back up, the “thin line of trust” starts to feel very thin indeed. And criminals become bolder. Today, Citizens are violated by Police every 45minutes if not less across Nigerian major cities. Only a fraction of these human rights abuses is reported. Of the reported cases 90% border on armed robbery and kidnapping for ransom using police stations as bases or driving round in circles on our highways while inflicting horrendous physical and psychological damages to their innocent victims. A wise man once said our adaptability can be both a blessing and a curse, a prolonged look upon wonder and abomination begins to make them mundane. The system, however, is not broken, it was built that way leading to the current spiraling execrable standards of the modern day when compared to what is obtainable in saner climes. We have journeyed from domesticity to embracing primitivism under the oppression and impunity of a vile and anachronistic police system. But each time the people demand accountability, it is often met with media costuming and prevarication. They begin to mention training, addition of tags and dramatic reactions that simply move furniture around without any definite, effective or meaningful restructuring. A Yoruba apothegm aptly states that it is not he who was struck by a reckless driver that makes mental note of the registration number of the vehicle. Those ignorantly chanting the litotes of Police with the suggestion of reformation of SARS must understand that the culture of impunity of SARS has been ingrained in the system thus becoming a metastasized cancer which will require a total shutdown before it destroys the entire police system which can still be salvaged if we act fast enough. In this situation where our policing system has been hijacked by ethnic brigade as balkanized, with bold unconscionable pronouncements by the police on the daily, just to maintain the status quo of the ecology of their delicate organized crime syndicate, it clearly demonstrates the ominous tragedy that lies in wait. We must not culture cancer but ensure it is severed (EndSARS), while we intensively and surgically focus on a holistic reform of the police system (ReformPoliceNG). A government that cannot protect the lives and properties of her citizens lacks legitimacy. As likened to a man who procures a fast horse at the expense of feeding his children…thus stripped of his income by a sane and conscious society. In the face of overwhelming statistical evidence, There is no point disagreeing
When I read that the Zamfara state governor Abdul-aziz Yari Abubakar was still in Abuja unaware of the massacre in his state days after a few media outlets reported it I was livid and decided to pen a piece on such insensitivity and aloofness among our leaders especially President Muhammadu Buhari who has disappointed a majority of Nigerians with his actions or should I say inactions in Benue but in this editorial which was published by The Guardian thoroughly dissected the issue.. Read on ———————————————————————————————————————————— It is still unacceptable that what people feared most about the presidency and its attitude to the herdsmen’s killings in Benue State was actually what happened in the end with President Muhammadu Buhari visiting a neighbouring state, Nasarawa to commission insignificant projects, but failing to visit Benue State. This is a tragic flaw, a character trait, which ultimately leads to a tragic action that produces the tragic hero. It is getting curiouser and curiouser why a president who was elected on an unparallel wave of goodwill would court this fate. It was remarkable that President Muhammadu Buhari had vowed that his administration would not tolerate the attacks by herdsmen and other bandits, developments that have overshadowed other governance issues in the country in recent months. He assured the people of the north-central zone and indeed all Nigerians that the Federal Government was working day and night to ensure peace and stability returned to the flashpoints in the country. Even when he disclosed in Lafia that the government had deployed additional resources to all affected areas to maintain law and order, most people watching on television believed that the Nigerian leader should have flown to Makurdi first to commiserate with the grieving people of Benue who had earlier lost more than 73 of their kinsmen to herdsmen’s murderous acts. But sadly, he did not show up there. This is grossly insensitive. And so, all the grandiloquent speeches in Lafia without visiting Benue’s bloodspots amount to a tale told by an uncaring president. The nation is though not unaware of the fact that the commander-in-chief had directed the security agencies to arrest and prosecute any and all persons found with illegal arms. But again, this is belated. It is only coming on the heels of a groundswell of opinion that the president’s silence has been disturbing to the nation. What is more, a lot of damage had been done before the president’s directive. Besides, impunity had been perceived and insinuations of official complicity had been allowed to go on. All these came just as people were still smarting from the embarrassing visit of Benue leaders to the State House, Abuja where the President urged the Benue people to accept the spirit of the Fulani herdsmen’s atrocities in good faith and accommodate them as fellow Nigerians, a President who should have been the visitor to the grieving people in Benue. Empathy or compassion is what leaders show all over the world. They visit accident scenes and flashpoints to sympathise with the people in shows of compassion and real leadership. This government should know that this is a digital media age when information and responses to issues occur at a speed faster than that of light. So, no leader goes to bed without resolving issues that have hit the roof. Governments all over the world respond to governance and security issues instantaneously. There is no more room for executive or legislative or judicial procrastination. Things go viral immediately. So, apologies, explanations, rationalisation, visits and all critical actions of authorities should be done when they will make desired impact. Definitely, the belated actions from the office of the president on the massacre in Benue State have remarkably reduced the rating of the president and have not ministered grace to the citizens in any way. It is not for any trite reason that the constitution underscores a classical reason governments all over the world exist: “welfare and security of citizens,” which it says “shall be the primary purpose of government.” It will continue to boggle the mind, therefore, that President Buhari at such a perilous time as this could not find a purpose to visit Benue and other areas including Taraba and Adamawa where herdsmen have been wreaking havoc on farms and killing people. Sadly, this appearance of insensitivity has been complicated by ministerial insolence and even wickedness. A curious remark of the Minister of Defence, Brigadier General Mansur Dan-Alli (rtd), stoked the embers of fire the other day when he claimed that the enactment of the anti-grazing laws by some states was the immediate cause of violence by herders is quite unfortunate. This insensitive statement is one that should have been withdrawn immediately in the interest of peace and stability in the land. This is one more careless statement from the president’s key men on the bloody clashes between herdsmen and farmers in many parts of the country. The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris Kpotum on his own always sets the tone for poor judgment and carelessness when it comes to managing crisis communication. This is also unfortunate. But the point must be quickly made that the buck of all the carelessness stops at the president’s table. He should be ready to bear the brunt of all kinds of incompetence and mediocrity in crisis management. The Defence Minister, who curiously blamed the law instead of the law breakers who are still at large over the killings should be publicly rebuked for his indiscretion that is capable of inflaming passions across flashpoints in the country. The president will continue to receive blames over choices of the men and women who have been working with him to shape politics and policies. Clearly, there have been daily indications that there are far too many of them who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. With due respect to him, the appointor, the Defence Minister lacks the depth, tact and grit expected of a Brigadier-General from the Nigerian Army that has produced numerous fine officers.
“We have reported similar killings to the South African Government and Nigeria High Commission in South Africa and nothing was done to bring the culprits to book. “We want the Nigerian Government to intervene to stop this brutality against innocent Nigerians and stop killing Nigerians out of hatred, racism or xenophobia,’’ ~ Kanayo Onwumelu, Chairman, Western Cape chapter of the union, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) South African Policemen As a crisis-ridden September came to an end with calm restored after the IPOB/Military clashes, I found time to do a piece on an issue that has been a fixture in the news. It is a source of concern especially for me given the number of my friends and relatives resident in South Africa. On the 17th of August 2017, I read that a Nigerian was brutally killed by the South African police. The victim, Mr. Uchenna Emmanuel Eloh was reportedly strolling towards a bus park near his home when he was accosted by the police for an on-the-spot search. A usual approach when they suspect an individual might be in possession of an illegal substance. The often routine task turned awry when the policemen assumed that he swallowed the substance and held him by the neck in a bid to stop him. It wasn’t long before he started foaming in the mouth and eventually died from asphyxiation. Two weeks later the media reported that the Nigeria Union in South Africa confirmed the killing of another of its member by the police. Mr. Kingsley Ikeri, a 27-year-old businessman from Imo state was said to have been killed by the police in Kwazulu Natal Province on the 30th of August. While these stories were still being hotly debated we were shocked by yet another incident. On the 7th of September Vanguard reported that Mr. Clement Ofoma, 35, was said to have been tortured to death after about 10 policemen arrested him for allegedly dealing in drugs. And just a few days ago Ibrahim Badmus was reportedly slain by a police officer. Again and again and again we are assailed with series of similar tragic news and what do we get? Another outrage, another round of condemnation from both governments but the sad reality is that Nigerian families continue losing loved ones with scant chances of ever getting justice. Other victims of this deplorable onslaught against Nigerians include Gideon Ogalaonye, Monday Okorie, Adeniyi Olumoko and Christian Onwukaike, among many others. These stories are depressing, to say the least, and even more so given that there are no indications of these killings abating anytime soon. I say this because I am aware that the South African police is corrupt, so the perpetrators can easily bribe away these murders under the carpet. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa recently revealed that 116 Nigerians have been killed in South Africa via extrajudicial means in the last two years. This figure roughly works out to one per week. Juxtapose the aforementioned facts with the recurrent xenophobic attacks (the last of which occurred in 2015) and it may be right to say that Nigerians are endangered species in South Africa. It is now an emergency and every responsible government must rise to the task of securing its citizens wherever they reside. To examine this worrisome trend and proffer solutions it is essential to present a synopsis of some of the numerous causes (direct and indirect) of the extrajudicial killing of immigrants by state actors with particular reference to South Africa. Whereas it is universally acknowledged that modern states need the police and in some cases, the use of force to provide security, there is a disturbing aberration between the proportionality and necessity of such use in many African nations. It is, therefore, no surprise that excessive use of force was a major factor identified by a study prepared for the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings in Africa. This is particularly so in South Africa where the police force is a fusion of several police organizations much of which had a notorious reputation for brutality, especially during the apartheid era. A 2002 report by Inter-African Network for Human Rights and Development (Afronet) revealed that a total of 2174 people died in the hands of the police between 1997 and 2000. About 95% of this figure resulted from police action. Sadly there is little the Nigerian government can do about this particular issue. Even though international criminal and humanitarian law take a more stringent view of command responsibility and excessive use of force, the brotherly diplomacy between two African nations will have to be exhausted before Nigeria will consider going further. What we can do, however, is to provide regular counseling for our citizens over there on informal social control and cooperation with the police. The Nigerian embassy in Pretoria can easily arrange this. South Africa also had the unenviable record of 6 cities among the 10 most dangerous cities in a recent report by worldatlas.com. Furthermore, the ubiquitous proliferation of firearms contributes in no small measure to the high rate of attacks against law enforcement agents. Whereas existing laws for gun ownership require the applicant to be a South African citizen or a permanent resident, the increased use of illegal short guns for violent crimes lays bare the porosity of the country’s gun laws. A 2015 report by businesstech showed that South Africa had the second highest rate of gun-related deaths in the world. It is therefore not surprising that public opinion seems to endorse brutality by the police and even suggest further arming when the reverse should be the case. Nigerians should be properly educated on these laws to avoid illegal gun ownership which often makes them easy targets for the police. Again, dissemination of such information should be a simple matter. Bulk messages and regular reminders to citizens on the embassy database will go a long way in informing them properly. The South African police
This will close in 13 seconds
