President of the Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria (AISSON), Dr. Ona. Ekhomu has called on the Nigeria Police Force to reinvigorate its efforts at combating ritual killings in Nigeria as the frequency of ritual murders is becoming too high.
In a press release issued in Lagos (31st August 2017) Ekhomu urged the Police to set up Special Ritual Murder Squads in various State Commands in order to focus the investigation, detection, arrest and prosecution of ritual killers.
He said that the high incidence of serial ritual killings demanded 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 violence to get redress for the heinous murders.
Dr. Ekhomu said that the human rights of persons murdered by ritual killers “must be restored by security agencies through diligent investigation, detection, arrest and prosecution”.
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?”
The world-renowned security expert also decried the excesses of the Baddoo murder cult in Ikorodu Lagos State that specialised in smashing the skull of its victims with grinding stone and dropping white handkerchiefs as calling cards. He said that the Baddoo cult killings were a direct challenge to the Police agency, which he felt the police should confront head on.
Ekhomu commended the current internal reforms aimed at repositioning the police agency as an effective crime-fighting force. He advised police top management to sustain and reinvigorate the needed police operational reforms.
He praised the Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris for the huge successes recorded by the police agency in busting kidnap cases. He charged the Police top management team to devise creative strategies to detect and severely punish ritualists and killer cultists.
Dr. Ekhomu said that the economic recession in the land was not a licence to commit ritual murder. He said that impunity was encouraging ritualists to commit murders because they believe they will not be apprehended or punished.
He advised Nigerians against late night outings. He said that driving alone at night was also dangerous as a vehicular breakdown could result in abduction by ritualists. He advised commuters to always write down the identification markings of public conveyance vehicles which they enter and make phone calls to loved ones passing on the information. According to him, “ritual murderers always wish to be unidentified. They want to kill people, but don’t wish to be apprehended. Once information about them has been passed on to someone else, it becomes difficult for them to do evil”.
He urged Nigerian to properly assess public transport vehicles before boarding in order not to board the “wrong bus”. He said that there is strength in numbers. So Nigerians should always go out with “a buddy”.
He advised women to carry whistles on them in order to raise an alarm if there is an attempt to abduct them. According to him, the ritualists have to first kidnap and control a victim before carrying out the ritual killing.
He urged Nigerians to exercise utmost caution in order to avoid victimization by ritual killers.
