- Whatever the answer, ritual killings for whatever purpose deserve stricter sanctions
In an investigative feature story published on June 25, this newspaper beamed the searchlight on the reported upsurge in the penchant for internet fraudsters in the country, popularly known as ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ boys, to resort to the killing of fellow human beings, most times close relatives, to make money. There is obviously a certain irony to this phenomenon. Cybercrime, through which those who perpetrate them defraud individuals and organisations of humongous amounts of money, is a high-tech affair presumably grounded in the field of science, albeit for criminal intent in this instance. Ritual killings on the other hand are savage, atavistic practices predicated on presumably superstitious, primitive and pre-scientific orientations.
Yet, there are numerous routinely reported cases in communities across the country of youths who had earlier taken to Yahoo Yahoo criminality in pursuit of wealth to also engage in ritual killing for the same purpose. In many instances, those who indulge in these fetish practices, at the behest of native doctors supposedly endowed with supernatural powers, are known to have lost their minds or resorted to abnormal, bizarre behaviour, and several examples are cited in the report.
What cannot be disputed is that there has been a steady rise in cases of youths perpetrating Yahoo Yahoo internet fraud in both rural and urban areas of the country, while a surge is also obviously noticeable in the number of this category of the population involved in money-making ritual killings. One particularly gruesome case specified in the report is that of a 29-year old internet fraudster, Amos Olaleye, arrested in May, this year, in Lagos, for allegedly killing his sister for money-making purposes. In his statement to the police, the culprit stated partly that”My mother was the one who took me to a native doctor. He said I would have to sacrifice one of my siblings if I wanted to be successful. He said the one to be sacrificed must be the one I loved most”.
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Continuing, he said “I am into Yahoo business. The native doctor also instructed that I must sleep with my sister’s corpse and suck her (private part) before throwing the corpse into a river”. It is astounding that Olaleye actually complied with the native doctor’s barbaric and nauseous instructions until the offensive odour from the decomposing corpse attracted neighbours who raised an alarm. But then, such difficult-to-comprehend narratives have become commonplace in media reportage in the country. This has prompted the question: ‘Is ritual killing as a means of wealth acquisition a superstitious myth or a reality?’ There is no unanimity of opinion on the matter.
For those of a modernist, scientific cast of mind, it is sheer nonsensical and meaningless regression to savagery. As a Lagos-based lawyer, Tayo Douglas, put it in the report, “There is nothing like money rituals and overnight prosperity. It is the situation of the country’s economy that has provoked the madness in our society “. But the traditional ruler of Ode Ule Kingdom of Legunseland, Remo North Local Government Area of Ogun State, Oba Adedayo Adekoya, Erinsibi 1, disagrees. In his words, “The way it is done is that all the wealth one is supposed to accumulate over one’s lifespan is pushed into one within a very short period of two to five years and then one dies mysteriously. It is no myth. It is reality”.
For Dr Andrew Eromensele, a sociology lecturer at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, also quoted in the report, “there is empirical evidence to show that money rituals do exist, going by the stories of contemporary youths using their relatives, mothers, girlfriends and others to make money”. And a Pentecostal pastor, Yemi Olaojo, of Fellow Citizens Christian Centre, explains the link between Yahoo Yahoo boys and ritual killing thus, “Look at the Yahoo boys, for instance, the rituals they do help them to convince their victims in releasing their funds to them. These victims are hypnotised. – that is demonic”. It has also been explained that with greater security searchlight on Yahoo Yahoo fraudsters, many of them are finding an alternative to money making in fetish practices. Again, some of them reportedly take to ritual killings to protect themselves from arrest by law enforcement agents or attack by perceived enemies.
While the jury is still out on the myth or reality of ritual killings for money, and as we await further investigations by specialists into the phenomenon, the undeniable truth is that internet fraud, ritual killings for quick enrichment without honest labour, the prevalent massive corruption in public office, the monetisation of religion, among others, are all fallouts of a society enslaved to acquisition of wealth at all cost. It is this pervasive materialistic orientation of society devoid of commitment to ennobling moral and spiritual values that must be addressed.
In addition, the security agents must also be on the lookout for ritual killers for whatever purpose. It is not only a sin but also a crime for someone to take another person’s life for whatever purpose, except, perhaps, in proven cases of self-defence. Perpetrators must be arrested and prosecuted so that others intending to toe that path would learn the appropriate lessons.
