The abductions, especially of children where ransom is not demanded and taken just as a case of missing children are believed to be carried out for ritual. The rituals are mostly done to get rich and get high positions or get elected to political office. For these people killing a human being to get body part in order to get their wish is a length they are ready to go.
The ritualists or native doctors as they care called, get the body part to perform the ritual for the client or they ask the client to get the body part for them.
In some cases the ritualists would go or send their boys to the cemetery and dig out a fresh corpse to cut off the head or any other part, while some resort to outright killing.
In some parts of the country every now and then people are caught with fresh human heads or body parts.
This is a phenomenon that many associate with political season; therefore it is a welcome development that the House of Representatives has resolved to declare a national emergency on ritual killings in Nigeria.
This followed a motion by the Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Toby Okechukwu who raised alarm over the frequent ritual related killings across the country.
It asked the National Orientation Agency (NOA), stakeholders and the media to initiate a campaign towards changing the situation in the country.
It also asked the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali, to take urgent steps towards tackling ritual killings in the country.
Mr Okechukwu, in the motion of urgent public importance he moved on Wednesday, blamed Nigerian movies, popularly known as Nollywood, for the rising cases of ritual killings.
He said that while citizens of other countries were embracing science and technology, Nigerian youths were turning to ritual killings.
“While youths in other climes are embracing science and technology as a way of maintaining pace with our dynamic world, some of our youths seem stuck in the mistaken belief that sacrificing human blood is the surest route to wealth, safety and protection,” he said.
Mr Okechukwu then drew the attention of the House to the gruesome killing of one Sofiat Kehinde in Ogun State by some three teenagers in January for ritual related act.
The three teenagers were arrested by local vigilantes while attempting to burn the severed head of the late Sofia.
This unfortunate story has shocked many people because of the age of the perpetrators. They should be interested in their studies or on how to learn something productive, but they are thinking far ahead and not in terms of inventions but of making millions of naira. What would they even do with millions of naira at that age?
Apart from films that promote ritual killings to get rich, some musicians may be aiding that wittingly or unwittingly by displaying money including US dollars, thus enticing the gullible.
The society however is the silent culprit where people with money are literally worshipped regardless of how they get it.
Somebody who has no known job, trade or anything just one day becomes very wealthy; few that may raise questions would be labeled as being envious.
Such personalities visit the community leaders and the clerics so before long they too have become important people.
In some societies even if you are the last born, as long as you have money, the elder brothers would bow to you and you become their leader and the decision maker.
It is hoped that the appalling, but regrettably ‘norm’ would be taken with the seriousness it deserves, because for ages you hear about a brother sacrificing his brother for ritual to become rich, for a husband taking his wife somewhere in pretence to visit friends, only for him to abandon her and she found a way to escape, or of a man sacrificing his children or even his mother.
So it is not a new crime, only that it has been allowed to grow because it involves secrecy and may involve some influential people as well. It may also be due to the way grave things are not handled with the seriousness they deserve. But this involves killings of human beings and using the body parts in some fetish ritual to get rich or position, so what could be more serious than this?
In this regard, the resolve to declare national emergency for ritual killings by the House of Representatives is a starting point and hopefully a beginning to tackling this menace head on.
