By Kevin Okunzuwa and Deborah Akpede
Rituals, as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, are a set of actions or words performed regularly, often as part of a religious ceremony.
The Oxford Dictionary defines killing as the act of causing death, especially deliberately.
By these definitions, ritual killing can be understood as the deliberate act of taking another person’s life as part of either a religious or supernatural practice.
Disturbed by the rising cases of ritual killings in Nigeria, the House of Representatives in 2020 called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency to curb the trend.
The then Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu, also urged the then Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, to “take urgent steps to increase surveillance and intelligence gathering” to curb the menace through arrest and prosecution of perpetrators.
Additionally, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) was tasked with initiating a nationwide awareness campaign to address the issue.
However, three years later, ritual killings have not only persisted but have seemingly become more frequent, particularly among young people.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, over 150 ritual killing cases -often linked to youths seeking quick wealth– were recorded in just six months.
These alarming incidents have raised concerns about the moral decay and future leadership of Nigeria.
Similarly, statistics from the Nigerian Police paint a grim picture of the crisis:
On Nov. 6, in Imo, a pastor was reportedly caught attempting to kill a woman after already murdering another and removing her genitals.
In Kogi, a 20-year-old man was arrested on Sept.4 for killing a 19-year-old university student and removed some of her body parts.
On Dec. 22, in Ogun State, a 45-year-old suspected ritualist, was found with a fresh human head and dismembered body parts of a female victim in Abeokuta.
In Cross River, a 29-year-old man, allegedly killed his mother, shaved her hair, and dumped her body in a well.
On Aug.10, Police in Oyo State arrested eight suspected serial ritual killers and recovered three mutilated unidentified female bodies.
In September in Lagos State, a 16-year-old boy lured a four-year-old child into a bush, strangled him and removed his intestines, and private organs.
While on Oct. 1, in Kwara, police discovered the corpse of a teenage girl with her two eyes removed in Ilorin.
Stakeholders have identified several key factors contributing to the rise in the orgy of ritual killings including:
Among these, is poverty and unemployment factor. They said the economic crisis had driven many young people to desperate and criminal acts.
They similarly said the get-rich-quick mentality, where the glamorisation of sudden wealth often portrayed in the social media, had the propensity of pushing individuals to seek supernatural means of acquiring money.
According to them, the weak law and failure of security agencies to swiftly investigate and prosecute offenders have emboldened criminals.
The stakeholders also listed the factor of societal decadence where some traditional and religious leaders either remained silent or had become complicit in these practices.
Most importantly, they attributed the breakdown of family structure, resulting in the lack of proper parental guidance to the moral decline among youth.
Security expert, Mr Seyi Babaeko, Managing Director of Absolute Security and Advance Protocol Ltd., described the rise in ritual killings as a reflection of deeper socio-economic and cultural issues.
“The desperation for wealth, belief in supernatural influences, and erosion of moral values have fueled this menace,” he said.
Badeko urged government to among others strengthen the criminal justice system for swift prosecution of offenders.
“Government needs to intensify intelligence gathering and surveillance to dismantle ritual killing networks.
“It should launch public enlightenment campaigns to debunk the belief that human sacrifice brings wealth, as well as prioritise job creation to reduce the desperation driving individuals toward crime.”
Another security expert, Mr Christopher Oji, emphasised that ritual killings, particularly among cyber fraudsters (popularly known as Yahoo boys) had become disturbingly normalised in the Nigerian society.
“You see a 17-year-old boy driving a N30 million car, and nobody questions his source of income,’ he said.
He blamed government negligence and societal indifference for the rising cases, adding that many missing persons in Nigeria were likely victims of ritual killings.
Oji urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) to scrutinise the sources of wealth among young people.
“The EFCC should go beyond cybercrime investigations and begin questioning the sudden wealth of individuals, especially youths.”
The Chief Operating Officer of DOHS Care Foundation, Mrs Ololade Ajayi, took to her X (formerly Twitter) handle. @OlolaTohRhea, to highlight how ritual killings often targeted women and girls.
“This reflects violent commodification of female bodies. Women are often lured by individuals intending to either use their genitals or breasts for rituals,” she stated.
Ajayi called for stricter laws and justice for victims, emphasising that femicide(the intentional killing of women due to gender motives) must be addressed urgently.
A cleric, Pastor Victor Oke of the Assemblies of God Church, Oyobo, attributed the rise in ritual killings to the loss of respect for human life.
” Human life is sacred. No one has the divine mandate to take another person’s life for ritual purposes,” he said.
Oke urged Nigerians to report suspicious activities to law enforcement agencies and work collectively to end the menace.
The stakeholders agree that addressing ritual killings requires a multi-pronged approach.
They urged government’s urgent intervention in the areas of strengthening law enforcement, judicial reforms and job creation.
They similarly called on traditional and faith leaders to at all times, publicly condemn ritual killings and emphasise ethical success.
They also urged parents to instill strong moral values in children to discourage illegal means of acquiring wealth.
According to them, social media have the responsibility of using their platforms to actively counter content that glorifies sudden and unexplained wealth.
All in all, stakeholders agree that addressing the root causes of ritual killings in Nigeria requires a collective effort, with both the government and individuals playing a crucial role in finding lasting solutions.(NANFeatures)
