The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ‘Ritualists

  • 4 suspected ritualists arrested after a mutilated body was discovered in Enugu community

    Four suspected ritualists were apprehended by the Umuagama Community Neighborhood Watch in Enugu Ezike in Igboeze North LGA of Enugu State and handed them over to the State Police Command.

    The Chairman of the neighborhood watch, Mr. Onyema Ossai told reporters that they swung into action after one of the suspects Ndukwe Omeke owned up and confessed their involvement in the killing of one Ngozi Eze,35, after the four of them ambushed and raped her before mutilating her body.

    Explaining further on how the four suspects were apprehended after discovering the decomposed corpse of Ngozi, he said: “Ndukwe Omeke, the leader of the gang during his confession named Chinedu Ugwuanyi, (palm wine tapper), Eugene Ukwueze and Ibekwe Eya, (Okada rider), and identified Kenneth Idoko, a butcher as their anchor man who offered them the job of delivering to him female private parts for N600, 000.

    Ossai also added that, “What we found out from the suspects after interrogation was that they have a list of high profile indigenes and politicians who are backing them up in this ritual killings”.

    Corroborating Ossai’s statements, a police source added that the four suspects having confessed to the crime said Idoko gave them a white handkerchief to put the mutilated private parts and bring to him before making the payment of N600, 0000 to them.

    Investigations further revealed that days after delivering Ngozi’s body parts to Idoko the four suspects were yet to be paid before they were rounded up by the vigilante, according the information gathered when the gang went to Idoko for the payment he said the money was not readily available but promised to make the payment as soon as his principal makes it available.

    It was however gathered that Idoko gave them N500 for the fueling of their motorcycles.

    Condemning the barbaric act of the four suspects, the Parish Priest of St. Mary’s Catholic Church Umuagama, Enugu Ezike, Rev. Fr. Mellitus Idogwu said he was happy that all the culprits have been arrested and handed over to the police.

    He pleaded with the police to unravel the so called powerful people behind the ritual killing and prosecute the as no sinner should go unpunished.

    “I commend the neighborhood watch for their effort in apprehending all the suspects involved in this heinous act”, he said.

    The Clergyman said he was planning a rosary procession in the community which will terminated at the LG Council headquarter for the purpose of cleansing.

    Confirming the arrest to our Correspondent over the gruesome murder of the 35year old lady, Ngozi Eze, the State Police spokesman, DSP Ebere Amaraizu said investigations had commenced.

    He said that the suspects in the case were currently been interrogated and are already giving useful information to the police.

     

  • Ritualists storm birth centre

    Ritualists storm birth centre

    Suspected ritualists invaded a public health centre in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, in the wee hours of Saturday, demanding a day old baby.

    It was learnt that five suspected ritualists went to a health centre in Irona Quarters around 12:30am.

    An official of Ado-Ekiti Local Government Council said: “The hospital workers tried to convince them that babies delivered in the last one week had been discharged, but their explanations fell on deaf ears. They were dealt with mercilessly. This angered them and they beat up the medical personnel. They ransacked the wards and left when they did not find any baby.”

    She said one of the victims sustained a leg injury and was receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital in Ado-Ekiti.

    During his visit to the centre, the Council Chairman, Mr. Tope Olanipekun, described the attack as “the height of callousness”.

    Olanipekun said: “The incident actually happened and we are taking steps to forestall a recurrence. The doctor-in-charge has reported the case at the Okesa Police Station and we are planning to fence all health centres and strengthen security.

    “I have instructed that night duty be suspended until adequate security measures are put in place. We have also advised that expectant mothers in labour should be referred to Okeyinmi Health Centre.”

    Police spokesman Victor Olu-Babayemi said the incident had not been officially reported to the police.

  • ‘How God saved me from ritualists’

    ‘How God saved me from ritualists’

    Ekene Igwenagu, a member of the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries Lagos, has recounted his gripping escape from ritual killers in Kwara State.

    Igwenagu, at a two-day conference of the Church last weekend in Lagos, recalled how he boarded a commercial vehicle from Oshodi heading to the Ijeshatedo headquarters of the Church for a weekly service, a journey that should not take more than 10 minutes.

    Instead of alighting at the Church, he and other passengers found themselves in a forest in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State.

    The testimony that elicited shouted of Halleluyah held members spell-bound for over an hour.

    Igwenagu recalled: “On Thursday, 28th March, I boarded a bus from Oshodi to take me to the weekly deliverance and counselling service.

    “As we approached Iyana-Isolo, I noticed an uncommon eye talk between the bus driver and another passenger at the back.

    “Immediately, it occurred to me it was a ‘one chance’ vehicle. I told the conductor that I would alight at the next bus stop to obey my hunch but was told that the State Transport Management Authority would impound the vehicle if it stopped there.

    “I just found I lost consciousness. The next thing I knew was we were being transferred to another vehicle but I was unable to complain or utter any word.”

    When the vehicle finally came to a stop, he found that they have been blindfolded and had no idea where they were.

    From what he heard from their abductors, they were working for different paymasters and each captive needed to be properly assigned to the correct ‘owner’ to get paid.

    “I remembered our GO also asked us to declare when in troubles, ‘I am a Chosen. God of my pastor, where are you?’

    It was a declaration he never believed. But he started to reconsider.

    “While in that forest, I told them I was son of ‘Baba Ijesha’. That set them thinking who I was. I saw a lady tied up. The hatchet man raised a sharp big cutlass and severed her head at once. It was horrifying.

    “To further intimidate me, they took me to see fellow ‘passengers’ being hacked to death. After each execution, I was blindfolded again.”

    When it was his turn, he claimed seeing an angelic being “in the likeness of our G.O; he was looking angry.”

    At the death chamber, he met his supposed executioner, a dwarf. Another man, a giant, in contrast, appeared from the inner chamber.

    They had some argument whether or not to shave Ekene’s hair, believing the power surrounding him was there.

    The executioner boasted that nothing would save the victim from his hands, ordering the hapless young man to walk up to him.

    “I remembered the trance and declared ‘I am a chosen’ three times and followed by ‘The God of my pastor, where are you?’

    “Immediately, a fierce wind blew into the large space, lifted the huge man and flung him to the floor. It was a spectacle.

    “The whirlwind took the man up from his feet the second and third time crushing him hard each time till he bled from the mouth and nose.

    “In a total daze, the executioner asked that I be released and taken away to freedom. I was led to a bush path and slumped.

    “When I regained consciousness, an elderly man met me and asked where I was going. I told him Oshodi and the man asked me, ‘Which Oshodi?

    “He was the one who told me I was in Kwara. He arranged my fare and I came back to Lagos alive to the glory of God.”

  • Suspected ritualists kill woman in Cross River

    A Primary Health Care Coordinator in Bekwarra Local Government Area of Cross River State, Mrs. Helen Ilonge (51), has been murdered by suspected ritualists.

    The victim, who lost her husband 12 years ago, has five children.

    It was learnt that a commercial motorcyclist, simply identified as Ifeanyi, a.k.a. Koboko, was given N10,000 by ritualists to provide them with a woman.

    Sources said the late Mrs. Ilonge, who was returning from a church programme in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, to Ukpe, a village on the Ogoja–Ikom highway, boarded Ifeanyi’s motorcycle and was taken to the ritualists.

    A neighbour said: “She deceased phoned her daughter, Victoria Agah, at about 9pm that she was at Okpogrinya Junction and was taking a motorcyle to Igoli.

    “After that call, the phone was unavailable until a couple of days later, when the kidnappers phoned demanding N50,000 ransom, which they said should be sent through MTN and Glo recharge cards.

    “The caller, who said they were at Ishi Eke near Abakaliki, claimed that he needed money to run away from his master, who he said was a ritualist. He said once he gets the cards, he would release Mrs. Ilonge.

    “Her daughter could not raise the money for the recharge cards and she went to the Bekwara Council Headquarters, where the Head of Aadministration, Mr. Bisong Bogbo, and the Council Chairman, Mr. Linus Edeh, provided the money and sent the cards to the kidnappers online.

    “After receiving the cards, the kidnappers stopped calling. Ifeanyi was located by the police through a tracking device on the phone. He was arrested in Abuochiche, where he was selling the recharge cards.

    “Ifeanyi led the police to the mastermind of the kidnap and he too was arrested. They confessed that as at the time Ifeanyi demanded the recharge cards, the woman had been butchered and her remains buried in a swamp.

    “They said the woman was wasted because the oracle they took her head and private parts to rejected them and they were thrown away.”

    Commissioner of Police Osita Ezechukwu said: “We have made several arrests and those found guilty would be prosecuted.

    “Those involved in her abduction have been picked up and detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID). Investigation is methodical and we have to use scientific equipment and other means to establish the truth. We will soon conclude our investigations and arraign the suspects.”

     

  • ‘Ritualists’ kill woman in Onitsha

    •Son kidnapped

    The body of a middle-aged woman was yesterday found on the Upper Iweka Flyover in Onitsha, Anambra State.

    Sources said the woman was killed about 5am yesterday.

    An eyewitness said: “The woman and her little son were walking on the flyover, when a Golf car stopped beside them. Four men came out of the car and tried to forcibly take the child away from her.

    “When the woman continued to struggle with them, the men shot her and took the child away.”

    Police spokesman Raphael Uzoigwe said he had not been briefed on the incident, but a senior police officer confirmed it.

    The officer, who pleaded for anonymity, said the woman’s body had been deposited at the mortuary of an unnamed hospital for autopsy.

    He said: “We have started investigating the matter. For now, nobody can tell how the woman was killed, until the autopsy is out. Although some people said it was the handiwork of ritualists, no part of her body was missing. We suspect she might have been killed in a vehicle and her body was dumped on the flyover.”