Nigeria is fast gaining notoriety as a country of ritualists with stories of killings daily reported in the traditional and social media. The latest of this atrocity is the gruesome murder of 22-year old Oluwabamise Ayankole who was abducted after boarding a Lagos State government owned Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) and was later murdered. Bamise who was on her way home from work was thereafter tossed out of the BRT Bus at Ebute Ero. Bamise according to eyewitnesses was still alive after she was tossed out of the vehicle at the Ebute Ero Bridge but gave up the ghost because she did not get help on time. The social media was awash with her last chat and video expressing fears for her safety inside the desolate BRT bus in which she and another lady and three men were the only occupants. As if she knew, her instinct warned her of the danger ahead but she was helpless. Murder in a BRT bus which is expected to be one of the safest means of transportation owned by the government of Lagos State is a sacrilege.
While many Nigerians are yet to grapple with the shock of the gruesome beheading of Sofiat Kehinde, a 17-year old girl in Abeokuta by four ritualists between ages 18 and 20, the murder of Bamise sent shock waves to all as anybody’s child, relative or friend could be the next victim. Late last year in Ado Ekiti, a seven-year old girl, Demilade was sent on an errand by her mother four houses away but the little girl disappeared immediately and all efforts to find her proved abortive until her corpse was found in a pastor’s house the following day!
Timothy Adegoke checked into a hotel in Ile-Ife to write his postgraduate examinations but he never came out alive as he was murdered overnight and buried some metres away from the hotel. The proprietor of the hotel is currently standing trial! In Ogun State, a woman connived with her husband to kill her visiting friend and dismembered her. The remains of the victim were later found in a bucket in the couples’ room. An alleged ritual killer, Timothy Odeniyi who was arrested by Amotekun Corps in Ondo State confessed that he used to harvest human parts at burial grounds which he sells to his clients. In Jos, 20 year old Moses Oko killed one Jennifer, a student of the University of Jos and removed some of her body parts. In Ikorodu Lagos State, a suspected internet fraudster (yahoo+), 32 year old Afeez Olalore, was said to have killed his younger brother for ritual purposes. In Uyo Akwa Ibom State, Uduak Akpan, killed 20-year old Iniobong Umoren , a job seeker and buried her in a shallow grave. In Ilorin Kwara State, a next door neighbor allegedly murdered a groom-to-be ostensibly for ritual purposes. In 2019, Nigerians were alarmed about the arrest in Port Harcourt of one of Nigeria’s notorious ritual killers called Gracious David West who confessed to have killed at least 15 women for ritual purposes. In November 2019, one year old boy, Eniola Kolawole was declared missing at Sotitobire Miracle Centre, Akure Ondo State and has not been found till today. One Shakirat was murdered in Iwo, Osun State and her body dumped behind her mother’s shop with some of her parts missing!
It is an understatement to say that Satan has taken over our affairs completely as cases of ritual killings keep rising by the day! The question now arise; is rituals for money making real? Perhaps this is why the Nigerian-American media scholar, newspaper columnist and activist, Prof. Farooq Kperogi while bemoaning the unending spate of ritual murders in Nigeria argued, “the only solution lies in the liberation of Nigerians from stupid, backward, unproductive and murderous superstitions. The witch doctors who tell people to bring the body parts of murdered people to make them rich are often some of the most wretched people you can find on earth. If money rituals were real, they would be wealthy and won’t let anybody in on the secret”.
Not many people agree with the view of Kperogi because if money making ritual does not exist, why is ritual killing on the increase across the country? There have been many unverifiable variants and anecdotes concerning how money rituals work especially among yahoo boys which is called yahoo plus.
The question remains, how much is ritual killing giving those involved in it that is worth the desperation of taking the life of a fellow human being?
The underlying factor behind the present malaise is desperation on the part of our young ones who are eager to get rich quick. There is unprecedented moral bankruptcy and total collapse of family values of hard work, honesty and integrity.
We should go beyond lamentation and take drastic action. We must dig into the root cause of this barbaric act and approach it from there. What we are seeing are symptoms rather than cause. Our society has been sold to the dogs and many souls sold to the devil; the result is what is confronting us. A 17-year old wanting to ride the latest automobile sold for millions of naira, not through any work but by any means, society celebrating any rich person not minding the source of his or her wealth is responsible for the present madness. Images of boys displaying wealth on social media and messages that all that matter is money and the message is sinking fast and spreading like wildfire!
Beyond lamentations that have not helped, we must all resolve to end this monster that is threatening to consume us all of us. Nobody is immune from ritual death. Bamise and other victims of ritual killings must not die in vain. Now that the driver of the BRT bus and his cohorts has been apprehended, their trial must be swift and transparent. Cameras must be installed in all BRT buses that would be monitored at a base station and on no account must this be switched off by any BRT driver. The national and state Houses of Assembly should begin to work on laws to empower special courts to try ritual murder cases with stiffer penalties. Everybody must be vigilant and we must de-emphasise material wealth in our society while the source of wealth of emergency millionaires and new kids on the block must be questioned and such characters ostracized by the rest of the society as it was the practice in the days of yore when there was sanity.
We must say no to ritual killings! We are neither animals nor vampires! Even animals don’t kill themselves senselessly as we are witnessing presently!
- Jamiu writes via hakeematus@gmail.com