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Concern mounts over ritual murders of female undergraduates
By Vivian Onyebukwa
There is a growing concern over the killing of young Nigerian female graduates by their lovers or boyfriends for alleged ritual purposes.
Recently, there has been a renewed spate of suspected ritual killings of female undergraduates in parts of the country. The most recent was the murder of a 300 level student of Biochemistry at the University of Port Harcourt, Otuene Justina Nkang who was allegedly killed by her boyfriend.
Few days after she was declared missing by her relatives, her dead body was found mutilated at the residence of her boyfriend on Collins on Road 15, NTA Road, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He has since been apprehended for the offence by the security operatives.
Long list
The list is, indeed, quite long and worrisome. Here are more cases.
A victim, Favour Dalet-Oladele, a final year student of the Lagos State University (LASU) Ojo, Lagos, went missing on Nov 8 2019. Her boyfriend in connivance with a self-acclaimed pastor had allegedly killed her for ritual purposes in the pastor’s church in Ikoyi-Ile, Osun State.
Narrating how he committed the murder, he revealed that while she was sleeping, the pastor had given him a pestle to smash her head. Thereafter, the pastor used a knife to cut off her head, ripped her chest open and removed her heart which he used to prepare a concussion for the boy’s mother and himself.
In another case, the family of a slain final year student of Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Oghenefejiro Success Regha has appealed to Edo and Delta state governments as well as security operatives to ensure that the killer of her daughter is brought to book without delay.
The father of the deceased, Ochuko Reghe, the Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Delta State Ministry of Finance, alleged that the murderer of their daughter in Edo State, an accounting student, intended to use her for money ritual.
A suspect, simply identified as Aminu, has been arrested by the police in connection with the murder of 26-year-old Blessing Karami, an undergraduate student of the National Open University of Nigeria, Abuja. Aminu is said to be the boyfriend of the late Karami.
The decomposed body of Blessing Karami, who was declared missing on September 11 when she boarded a taxi after work, was found dead days later in the woods in the Karimo area of the Federal Capital Territory.
In Edo State, a 27-year-old man, John Aipoh, was arrested for allegedly killing his 24-year-old lover, Precious Ikpikhumi, after she called off their four-year relationship.
Precious, a final year student of the Institute of Health Technology, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, was declared missing by her family on May 1 after she went to church and failed to return.
After a detailed investigation, the police arrested John who confessed to having ambushed Precious while she was on her way to church on May 1 and took her to an uncompleted building where he murdered her. He then moved to an unknown destination.
A 200-level student of the Niger Delta University (NDU), Amassoma, Bayelsa State, was found dead in her apartment in the university community. The lifeless body of the deceased, Jennifer Ugadu, was said to have been discovered with bullet wounds. The 23-year-old undergraduate is being alleged to have been murdered by her jealous soldier boyfriend.
Stemming the evil tide
Adaobi Whyte, a writer and female activist, has expressed worries over various incidents happening in the society recently.
“I am troubled about the world. You have just picked one. What about raping? Fathers are rapingdaughters of all ages, with some getting pregnant. Pastors are raping married members. Some of the married members consent. Recently, a woman poured hot oil on the husband. The killings areall over. We have lost control of the society. Husbands and wives have resorted to violence and killing instead of divorce. Look at the state of the nation. It seems everyone needs psychiatric evaluation. I asked a prominent politician how he copes with the mad political system. He replied that these days, people have lost focus of what life should be. Have you not seen girls fighting on the streets, stripping themselves naked over boyfriends ? Womanhood has lost its dignity and women no longer check the character of the men they associate with. They gamble with God’s previous gift. The glory of noble and genuine womanhood is gone. I’m carrying my lamentations to my grave. I’m working on another book on Nigerian Political System,” Whyte lamented.
A Human Resource consultant, Kemi Otegbade, said ritual killing is caused by greed and foolery.
She said the the young boys are tricked by agents that they would become rich when they kill their partners, friends, family members, etc, which makes them commit these ritual killings, not knowing that the money hardly comes from rituals.
“What is actually going on is organ harvesting. Human body parts are being harvested by a syndicate worldwide, sometimes frozen and sent to various corners of the world where they are needed,” she stated.
Otegbade then suggested that there should be enlightenment programmes. “The public must be lectured clearly that money rituals will not make them rich, and they are gradually being tricked into selling human parts. By the time they find out, it is too late to opt out.”
She advised that the security officers need to be more transparent and incorruptible, gather intelligence discreetly without fear or favour and hand over erring citizens to the legal system.
Rituals will be eradicated if the ritualists are punished by harsh penalties like death by hanging or something close,” she said.
Roseleen Folarin, who is into real estate business, described the spate of killings of young ladies for suspected ritual purposes as unfortunate and disheartening, lamenting that such incidents are now rampant in the society these days.
She said that the causes are not far-fetched, even as she listed the moral decadence in the society as one of the major causes.
Other causes, according to her include bad governance in the country.
“The get-rich-quick syndrome in our society, the winner takes all syndrome, lack of job opportunities for the youths and lack of the enabling environment for those who want to be self-engaged, peer pressure are also inclusive. I want to be like the Joneses. Morals are no more taught in schools and do not matter anymore in the society. These are all part of the problem,” she stated.
She blamed those in the government, accusing them of busy accruing wealth to themselves, amassing the country’s common wealth to the displeasure and the chagrin of the masses, especially the young ones. “All in all, the government and failure of government, is the root cause of all of these,” she noted.
As remedies to the problem, Folarin suggested that the government needs to come down, recognise the youths and be close to them.
Her words: “The government should provide jobs for her teeming youths. Provide enabling environment for those who want to be self employed. Make available vocational skills training to empower the youths. They should also engage the youths positively in various gainful ventures.
“Morals, values and civic education should be invigorated in schools and in the homes. Parents need to pay more attention to the upbringing of their children and wards. Keep close watch on them, the companies they keep and the places they go. The movies they watch and what they view on the internet. The girl child should be seriously monitored and given close marking. Material wealth should be played down, and more emphasis put on moral wealth. “Parents should be able to know where their children are at any given time and what they are doing. The Holy Book says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
Archbishop Emma David Okafoagu said unbelief is a major problem, noting that some have no faith in Jesus or Allah. “They have no faith to endure the total hardship brought to Nigerians by the politicians in Nigeria,” he stated.
Archbishopid Okaforagu, the presiding Bishop of New Covenant of God Mission Incorporated and the International President of Master Seed College of Bishops and Ministers Network, advised the government to use their power to deal with corruption.
“The media, church, parents must join hands in educating the young ones with examples of what has happened to former politicians, and double of what will still happen to these present ones. In so doing, with prayers, our youth must learn that they must labour to get up there.
Also speaking, an evangelist and writer, Samson Ojakovo said that some of these killings are emanating from the insatiable nature of some of the young girls. “Most of these ritualist activities are carried out for so many reasons though, but another reason could be that these young boys who became involved in occultic or kidnapping activities did so as a result of the pressure put on them by their girlfriends. All what these set of girls desire is affluence and pleasure such that they don’t care what their boyfriends pass through or do to make money available. It then gets to a point where these young boys would start having nightmares and discomfort and in the process, they kill these girls for putting so much pressure on them to get involved in evil acts.”
He gave more reasons why these ritual killings happen. “Another reason is double dating. Because of the lust for recognition and affluence, these young ladies do not keep a single relationship. And whenever, a particular boyfriend finds out, the next step is to eliminate the girl, especially if one of the boyfriends is jealous. Drugs and alcohol is another kettle of fish entirely. There is always that possibility that whoever takes drugs/alcohol, may one day lose his or her conscience and he will become uncontrollable. Funny enough, the Bible emphasised these in Proverbs 20:1 and Habakkuk 2:15-16. Some of these boys who are armed robbers, ritualists and kidnappers, their girlfriends may not be aware of the evil they do. And whenever they find out, they are killed so their secrets would not be exposed, especially the one that is threatening to expose him. They could also be killed by their boyfriends as a response to a command from their occultic heads, capon or master just to show that love would not stop them from carrying out any deadly attack or as a proof of their loyalty that love will not make them to jeopardize the secrecy of their occultic activities. Finally, some are actually killed for ritual because there is the request from the juju priest to kill whoever is closest to them. In most cases, it is their girlfriends.”
He advised girls to learn to be independent and stop pressurizing young people with their outrageous demands.
“Parents on their part should start asking questions where their children got stuff from. In the good old days, you must explain to your parents how you got any item or property in whatever form that is in your possession. This virtue is seriously lacking. Young undergraduates should focus on their education to be better people in future and they shouldn’t arrive before they depart. Avoid fornication by avoiding a boyfriend and also avoid attending parties with questionable characters. Finally, be contented whit what your parents gave you as stipends,” Ojakovo said.
Also speaking on the matter, a retired teacher, Olufunke Odetayo, attributed the major cause of ritual killings of female undergraduates to the love of money.
Her words: “For many decades, we have heard about how girls in our higher institutions were offering themselves to rich men in exchange for money. They called the rich men ‘Aristos.’ It is purely another form of prostitution on a higher level. These men desire their bodies and the girls desire the money. It is interesting to note that even girls with good upbringing and well to do parents engage in this evil relationship. Unfortunately, many of the girls don’t come back alive. Nowadays, it’s not even older men who murder these girls; it is young men like themselves. Sometimes, these girls are innocent girls looking for love in the wrong hands. Some of these young guys are cult members, posing as responsible lovers. Some of them are even members of a church or mosque. The innocent girls fall into their traps and get murdered.
“A very important step that can be taken to help our youths from falling into this calamity should come from homes. Parents and families have to give their children and wards good upbringing and instil godly values in them. I know it can be daunting when you take into consideration peer pressure and societal values that are plaguing the youths. There’s a proverb that says that you should train a child the way he/she should go and when they grow up they will not depart from it. Even when they want to, they will, in their quiet moments, remember the values they were taught at home.
“Our children must be filled with the spirit of God. This will give them discernment to make important decisions in life. Parents can’t be with their children all the time but God is with them and he can direct them with the Holy Spirit. The world at large is in a great mess right now with the youths. The pressure is great from family and friends for them to get married and settle down. This makes some girls to settle for any man that comes their way. We can help by removing some of these societal pressures. These guys are funded by the big men in the society to lure girls, murder them and become rich.”
To curb the menace, Odetayo recommended that another thing that can be done is to set up non-profit organisations that can be of help in counselling, offering financial assistance, housing and the like to female youths. If they have their basic needs met, they may not fall into the traps of these murderous gangs, she opined.
