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Tag: ‘Ritualists

  • Teenager rescued from suspected ritualists’ den

    A 17-year-old girl identified as Rachel was on Thursday rescued from a suspected ritualists’ den at Ijanikin where she was whisked to by a gang of three men.

    The girl, a make-up apprentice, was said to have been hypnotised and abducted on Wednesday morning while on an errand along Ibasa Road, Alasia, Ijanikin, a Lagos suburb.

    Her abductors were said to have taken her to a secluded place on Dan Ajaiyi Street, Ijanikin where they allegedly perfected plans to kill her.

    She reportedly miraculously regained consciousness and screamed “Blood of Jesus.”

    Her scream was said to have caught the attention of neighbours who invaded the house after the suspected ritualists had fled through the bush.

    A resident, Chika Ugochukwu, said the suspected ritualists packed into the neighbourhood last year, adding that people hardly bothered about their activities since their home was isolated from others.

    Another neighbour, Tochukwu, said the suspects allegedly touched the girl with a charm which made her followed them unconsciously.

    “The suspects were already preparing the girl to be used when some neighbours heard her scream.

    “The shrine where they took her to is behind an isolated house on Dan Ajaiyi Street. The suspects fled when they knew that the game was up,” he said.

  • Ekiti Police uncover ritualists, fraudsters shrine

    The Ekiti State Police Command on Thursday discovered a ritualist shrine in Odo, a suburb in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

    The ritualist shrine located around Crown Polytechnic area, was uncovered by a team of Policemen led by the Commissioner, Asuquo Amba.

    The discovery of the ritualist den happened few days after the CP declared total war on the evil perpetrators during the recent parading of 50 criminals.

    The CP who added that they are planning to raid and burst bushes used by criminals in the State.

    The shrine was fully decorated with several statues, fake foreign currencies and fetish objects.

    Amba told journalists that the police acted on a tip-off and bursted the area where two suspected ritualists were apprehended.

    He said, “We acted on a reliable tip-off which led to the arrest of two suspected ritualists.

    “Of particular interest was the discovery of a dungeon with a path which connects one of the shrines to another.

    He added that a community leader has been invited to assist them in their investigation.

    The CP appealed to the people of the state to always assist the police by giving them useful information.

    Ekiti Police

    Amba said security of any state or nation could not be left in the hands of a few security men but added that everybody should be involved.

    He further said that the police needs the cooperation and the support of the people of the state to ensure utmost security.

    Read also: Alaworoko of Iworoko Ekiti joins ancestors

    The Police Chief assured the people that any information given would be treated with utmost confidentiality.

    A community leader who craved anonymity lauded the police for coming to their rescue by arresting some of the operators of the shrine, saying they knew that the suspected criminals carried out nefarious activities in the building but they were too afraid to confront them.

  • Christian leaders demand release of Leah Sharibu, Chibok girls

    A Christian civil society organization, Catalyst for Global Peace and Social Justice Initiative, CPJ, in conjunction with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has demanded for the release of Leah Sharibu, the Dapchi schoolgirl who, for over seven months, has remained in Boko Haram captivity along with the remaining 112 Chibok girls.

    The group made this plea at a prayer session held for Leah and the abducted girls which took place at the National Christian Center in Abuja on Tuesday.

    Read Also:Anglican primate to FG: Don’t forget other Chibok Girls, Leah Sharibu

    The group expressed its displeasure at the threat by the Boko Haram terrorists to kill Leah Sharibu and two others in their custody, non-release of the remaining Chibok girls, as well as the inability of security agencies to arrest the activities of kidnappers, ritualists, and insurgents.

    The Convener, CPJ Global, Pastor Abraham Aiyedogbon, condemned the abductions by Boko Haram, referring to it as “a show of gutless brutality by a group with a false claim to Islamic principles and endowed with criminal access to weapons of cruelty and mass murder.”

    He called on the federal government to use all its power to ensure the immediate release of Leah Sharibu before the threat deadline approaches to avoid the same situation that happened when Boko Haram murdered Suifura Khorsa, the Red Cross health worker.

    “It is bad enough that following the abduction of over 200 Chibok girls in 2014 during Jonathan’s administration, the Buhari administration would allow a recurrence of that incident with the February 2018 kidnapping of Dapchi girls,” he stated.

    “It is much worse that Leah was held back by her abductors on account of her heroic refusal to renounce her Christian faith when government negotiated the release of the Dapchi girls.

    “It is inexcusable that some eight months after her abduction, the Federal Government has not been able to secure Leah Sharibu’s release.”

    He also called on security agencies to bring kidnappers, ritualists, and terrorists to book, and adjured the FG to ensure that the 2019 elections remain credible, free, and fair.

    The General Overseer of the All Christians Fellowship Mission (ACFM), Rev. William Okoye, who represented the President of CAN, Olasupo Ayokunle, commended the initiative made by the groups to hasten the release of the girls and health workers in captivity and urged the federal government to harken to the cries of Christians.

    He made it clear that as long as the girls remain in captivity, the Independence Day celebrations and the 2019 elections are all in vain.

  • Mob rescues woman from suspected kidnappers, ritualists

    A mob yesterday rescued a 22-year-old woman, Abidemi Omoniyi, from a gang of suspected kidnappers, ritualists at Agege, Lagos.

    Omoniyi, a front desk officer at a hotel in Omole Phase I, boarded an unpainted taxi around 7am at  Egbatedo Bus Stop enroute Pen Cinema.

    The woman, who said she started screaming as soon as she realised she joined a wrong vehicle, told reporters that the driver, Emeka Okeke his accomplices told her she would be taken to Ibadan where a customer was waiting to buy her vital organs.

    She said: “I had opted for the vehicle because there were too many people at the bus stop and no tricycle was going to Pen Cinema.  So when the vehicle came and said the fare was N100, I just joined it.  It was only the driver and a woman that were in when I joined. Few metres away, two others entered the vehicle pretending to be passengers.

    “I knew I entered a wrong vehicle immediately the driver started telling the female passenger (Blessing Nwaeze) that she did not lock his boot properly. He said the woman did not tell him she had dollars in the boot and for that reason, everyone in the car would share it.

    “As soon as I heard that, I told myself these were fraudsters and I asked them to drop me. But they refused. The next thing, the woman held me and the old man (Monday Onwuka) started fondling my breast. The driver brought out a simcard and put inside a phone and called someone that they were on their way with the items.

    “They told me they will cut off my breasts and other parts and that a customer was already waiting for us at Ibadan. The old man said I will die today that no matter how I screamed, no one will hear my voice.

    “Fortunately, there was a man that has been observing what was happening. The driver got to a busy spot and raised the alarm. He said he has been hearing my voice and it seemed I was shouting for help. He asked them who I was and the woman immediately said I was her younger sister and that our parents said they should bring me home.

    “I told the man I do not know them and that I had entered the vehicle thinking it was a taxi. That I only have my makeup kits in the bag I was carrying and not clothes as they claimed.

    “That was when people gathered and started beating them. They were four but one was able to escape while the other three were beaten and handed over to the police.”

    But the suspects denied being kidnappers, insisting that they were just fraudsters looking for who to swindle.

    Police Commissioner Imohimi Edgal who paraded the suspects, said investigations were ongoing.

  • Police nab suspected kidnappers, ritualists

    Police nab suspected kidnappers, ritualists

    Four suspected ritualists, who were arrested with a human head and hands, were among those paraded yesterday by the Oyo State Police Command, Ibadan.

    Two of the suspects, Olapade Saheed, 32 and Olatunji Abiodun, 26, were said to have been nabbed with the exhibits at Ayegun by vigilance group members.

    The human parts were reportedly cut from a body buried four days earlier.

    A Muslim cleric, Hammed Sulaiman, 35, who participated in the Fidaus of the deceased whose body was cut, was paraded with the pastor of Light of God C&S Church, Ojagbo, Oranyan, Ibadan.

    Sulaiman, who said he requested human parts, which he needed for money rituals, took Saheed and Abiodun to the grave of the deceased. The pastor was said to have taken custody of the human parts before the act was exposed.

    Sulaiman said he only needed a handful of human parts to mix with concoctions to prepare a money-vomiting juju and he asked his friend to help him get the parts.

    He said he gave the people who cut the human parts N2,500.

    Eighteen suspected criminals were paraded by Police Commissioner Abiodun Odude.

    They included a notorious kidnap kingpin, Bolaji Shittu, 40, who had been on the command wanted list and members of a robbery gang, who specialised in snatching motorcycles at gunpoint in Ibadan.

    A notorious cult leader, Alaba Ojo, popularly called Ojoweliweli, 28, who led members of his gang to cause mayhem during a carnival in 2016 was also paraded.

    Suspected fraudsters, namely Ahmed Olagbami, 52, Lanre Adams, 53, Akin Olorode, 52 and Hammad Abass, 40, who specialised in obtaining goods from people through fake bank alert, were arrested by the police.

    Another suspect, Tayo Ogunleye, 39, who impersonated the marketing manager of a popular store to deceive his victims and offer them phoney jobs, was paraded.

    Odude said the command rescued a 39-year-old woman and her seven-year-old son, who were kidnapped at their home in Soka, Ibadan two weeks ago.

    The victims, Ganiyat Yisau and Feranmi Adaramaja, who spent eight days at the kidnapers’ den at Ayegun, were reportedly tortured by their abductors.

  • Breaking: Fleeing ritual suspect rearrested in Plateau

    Breaking: Fleeing ritual suspect rearrested in Plateau

    The ritual suspect, Ifeanyichukwu Maxwell Dike who escaped the custody of the Rivers state police command last month is said to have been rearrested by men of Plateau state police command.

    Dike was being held over the murder of 8-year-old Chikamso Victory in a part of Port Harcourt. He however beat police security and escaped on the night of August 20, 2017  when he was detained.
    The spokesman, of the state police command,  Nnamdi Omoni,  a Deputy Supretendent of Police (DSP),  broke the news to The Nation in Port Harcourt.
    Omoni said Dike was re-arrested last night and the police officers from  the state have gone to convey him back to Port Harcourt to face his charges.
    Dike,  a 200 Levels Physics  student of the University of Port Harcourt,  allegedly druged,  raped,  murdered and removed vital body parts of his victim Chikamso Victory,  at Eliozu area of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state,  August 19, 2017.
    He was paraded and subsequently detained at the cell of the state criminal investigation and intelligent department of the command where he escaped in the evening of August 20, 2017.
    He has been on the run since then,  until yesterday night when he was reportedly rearrested at the North Central part.

  • Police arrest two ‘ritualists’

    The police in Lagos have arrested two suspected ritualists.

    Sarafu Yakubu, 25, and Fatai Muritado, 40, were apprehended at Oble Community in Badagry.

    The suspects and two others at large were accused of kidnapping Ayomide Bello from Ibadan, Oyo State on Monday.

    They allegedly relocated their victim to Badagry, where she was allegedly raped before they attempted to kill her for ritual.

    But the police, it was gathered, stormed their hideout after a distress call was sent to the Area K Commander and the suspects were smoked out.

    It was learnt that residents attempted to lynch the suspects but were resisted by the police team, which called for reinforcement.

  • Police arrest two ‘ritualists’ in Lagos

    Police arrest two ‘ritualists’ in Lagos

    Policemen in Lagos have arrested two suspected ritualists and rapists.

    Sarafa Yakubu, 25, and Fatai Muritado, 40, were apprehended at Obele Community in Badagry.

    It was gathered that the suspects and two others at large had kidnapped one Ayomide Bello from Ibadan, Oyo State, on Monday.

    They allegedly relocated their victim to Badagry, where she was allegedly raped before they attempted to kill her for ritual purposes.

    But the police stormed their hideout after a distress call was sent to the Area K Commander and the suspects were smoked out.

    Our correspondent learnt that residents attempted to lynch the suspects but were resisted by the police team, which called for reinforcement.

  • Another ‘ritualists’ den found in Lagos

    Another ‘ritualists’ den found in Lagos

    Three suspected ritualists were yesterday smoked out of an abandoned drainage in the Ile Zik axis of Lagos-Abeokuta highway.

    Human parts concealed in some sachets were reportedly found in the drainage.

    Many tunnels were also seen in the area adjacent to a perimeter fence of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja.

    It was gathered that one of the suspects was found with an iPhone.

    The suspect, it was learnt, confessed that he was not the only one involved in the criminal act, leading to the arrest of two other suspects.

    Eyewitness said a hawker who fell into the hands of the gang raised the alarm after she managed to escape.

    People around the area were said to have invaded the place, where shoes belonging to males and females were found.

    A sharp knife was found on one of the suspects said to have been posing as a mad man.

    Men of the Rapid Response Squad (RSS) rescued the suspects from being lynched by a mob at the scene.

    The suspects were whisked away from the scene in a police van.

    The Nation learnt that the suspects are being interrogated at Isokoko Police Station in the Agege.

    There are at least eight patrol vans of the police at the location, while a huge crowd converged on the place, making it difficult for free vehicular movement.

    Law enforcement agents including police, army and operatives of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Corps had hectic time controlling onlookers.

    Police also foiled an attempt by a mob to burn down a warehouse suspected to be the hideout of the ritualists.

    As of press time, the warehouse was being guarded by RRS operatives.

    An eyewitness told The Nation that the suspects ‘’were picked up after RRS operatives removed a manhole from an underground canal where the ritualists were hiding.’’

    A police source, however said those arrested are destitute who converted the disused drainage channels into shelter.

    An eyewitness said: “I was coming home today (yesterday) when I encountered traffic like never before on Agege motor road. I trudged along thinking it was an accident only to get to Ile Zik and find out that den was uncovered right along the road. I pass that place every day without realising demons are lurking around there.”

    Isaac Osare said: “There was a man who pretended to be a mad man but we found out that he is not mad but a kidnapper and rapist. The police were afraid to go into the tunnel because there are other culprits in it.”

    Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni said there were no shrine and no human parts in the den.

    He said: “Our men personally entered the place and saw some people with tools dressed in mechanic clothes. People living under bridges, tunnels, uncompleted building and trenches should be careful because you stand a chance of being tagged as ritualist and being mobbed.”

  • Badoo: Clamp down on ritualists, group tells govt

    Badoo: Clamp down on ritualists, group tells govt

    A frontline Islamic organisation, The Muslim Congress (TMC), has called on government at all levels to step up security and clamp down on ritual killers to stem killing of innocent people.

    TMC President Dr Luqman AbdurRaheem, said this at the ‘Quarterly State of the Nation Address’ briefing in Lagos at the weekend.

    According to him, the killings by the dreaded Badoo cult has once again highlighted the need for government at all levels to be up and doing, adding “All people involved in ritual killings including their sponsors and the errand boys must be smoked out and made to face the. The case of the Badoo cult that has laid siege to Ikorodu town and its environs is worrisome. The cult group unleashes mayhem on their victims with heavy stones to crush their skulls. They then use ritual handkerchiefs to clean victims’ blood after the operation.

    “It was gathered that each handkerchief is then sold for N500,000 to herbalists and some prominent Nigerians for money rituals.

    “To end these killings, the security forces must go after the patrons who pay for this service just as well as they are raiding the criminals who are used for the operations’’.

    The congress praised Lagos State Government and security operatives for their efforts. It cautioned Ikorodu residents against taking laws into their hands.

    AbdurRaheem said: “If there is no demand for human blood by the patrons, the errand boys will be out of business and the killings will stop. The people in these areas should be vigilant and guard their communities night and day. They should be wary of suspicious movements and strange faces. Wherever strange people are sighted, they should be promptly arrested and handed over to the police.

    “Everyone person should endeavour to know his neighbour and be aware of activities around him.

    “We, however, call on the people of the affected areas not to give in to jungle justice since this is likely to further increase the death toll. Most of those that will be killed in this kind of situation will be innocent people who are unlucky to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. People should not take the law into their hands rather hand over the suspects to the police.

    “The police must also quickly swing into action in order to carry out thorough and exhaustive investigations to know whether or not the suspects are culpable.”