Liberia: No suspects arrested yet in case of 9-year-old victim of ritualistic murder

On February 1, I reported the discovery of the mutilated body of a 9-year old boy in Nimba County and the – usual – gossip and rumor that it was a case of ritualistic killing. Not a coincidence. Ritual murders continue to occur (more or less frequently, we don’t know) in Liberia, and since elections will be held, later this year (October), the assumption of a ritualistic killing when finding a mutilated body is never far away. Moreover, a Liberian senator, from Nimba County (!) recently warned against ritual killers.

Police have questioned several ‘persons of interest’ in connection with the dead 9-year old, named Lee Arthur, but have not arrested a suspect. This automatically leads to rumors of a cover-up in Liberia, where ordinary people are used to the impunity of ‘big shots’, as highly placed citizens are called, usually politicians or high ranking civil servants and law makers. 

There are multiple reasons to remain vigilant and follow this case closely. The link between elections and ritual killings needs to be broken. In fact, the phenomenon of ritualistic murders should be banished from Liberia and become part of its history. After all, its 2020! (webmaster FVDK).

Published: February 6, 2020
By: The Bush Chicken – Jerry Myers

SANNIQUELLIE, Nimba – Despite efforts being exerted by police in Nimba to identify the murderer of Lee Arthur, a nine-year-old boy who was likely a victim of a ritualistic killing in late January this year, no suspect has yet been arrested.

A police source, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said those who were invited by the police in Bahn as persons of interest in the murder case have all been signed for by stakeholders in Lorplay and released to the community because of the lack of evidence linking them to the murder.

On Jan. 23, the boy was found dead in a hideout in Sahn Village in Nimba’s sixth district with his body partially dismembered and missing key body parts, including his vocal cord. His arms were also skinned. The cause of death remains unknown. However, residents of the village suspect that his missing body parts are an indication that he may be a victim of a ritualistic murder.

Following police arrival on the crime scene, several persons were invited for questioning to determine whether they were linked to the murder. However, the police source has told The Bush Chicken that, after a thorough investigation of those individuals, they were released.

“They could still be invited at a later time, should the police find sufficient evidence enough to link any one of them,” the source said. “So they are going about their normal activities back home as the police try to find the perpetrators of such an ugly act.”

The source further noted that the community has been cooperative with the police during the investigation.

Meanwhile, following examination of the child’s body by police, medical personnel, and the coroners, he has been buried.

The source noted that because police in the area lacked the capacity to preserve the body as the investigation continues, they turned the corpse over to family members for burial.

Meanwhile, police in Nimba have not yet made any official statement about the case, as the investigation continues.

Source: No Suspects Arrested Yet in Case of 9-Year-Old Victim of Ritualistic Murder

Ghana: Sunyani traditional authorities declare war on ritual and serial killers

The recent outcry of the Sunyani traditional authorities leads to mixed feelings. On the one hand, I am glad with their protest against the rituals killings that plague the Brong Ahafo Region and terrorize the people of Sunyani and its environs. However, even though the declaration of war against ritual killers was wrapped in ritual and traditional rites invoking the powers of the gods and ancestors, it is also a token of mistrust in official local and regional security forces who fail to reassure the population by arresting and prosecuting the alleged perpetrators preventing further heinous ritualistic acts, in short, to maintain the rule of law.
On the other hand, it is shameful and painful realizing that ritualistic killings and murders still take place on such a large scale that public demonstration against these criminal practices is warranted. Let’s hope that the traditional authorities thus contribute to tipping the scale and I wish from the bottom of my heart that their demonstration will act as a wake-up call for the official Ghanian authorities to make the region a safe heaven for all of its people, be it children, adults or elderly people (webmaster FVDK).

Sunyani traditional authorities declare war on ritual and serial killers
Published: February 5, 2020
By: Christopher Tetteh – GNA

Source: Sunyani Traditional Authorities declare war on ritual and serial killers

Nigeria: ritual killings on the increase

It’s no surprise to me to read that ritual killings in Nigeria – usually referred to as ‘money rituals’ – are rampant and on the increase. I frequently report on these crimes in Africa’s most populated country. Esther Onyegbula, the author of the article below expresses her disgust while presenting a frightening number of ritualistic murder cases, some of which have been reported earlier on this site.

Her article makes it clear that ritual murders are a plague in Nigeria, in virtually every corner of the country, but notably in the western and eastern states. Moreover, after reading her story, one is convinced that even though in some cases the authorities uphold the rule of law, in many cases the police fail to apprehend the perpetrators of these heinous acts.

Isn’t it time to wage a full-scale war against the criminals who slaughter innocent citizens in order to gain wealth or prestige, and against ignorance, the root cause of all superstition?  
(webmaster FVDK)

Weird world of money ritualists

Published: February 3, 2020
By: Vanguard Nigeria – Esther Onjegbula

In the last two years, ritual killings have been on the increase.

Although ritual crimes cut across almost all regions in the country, they are more pronounced in western and eastern states of Nigeria.

Every week, there are reports of one ritual killing or the other.

Some suspects are arrested and prosecuted while others arrested are not prosecuted as investigations are marred by lack of evidence or police compromise.

Last month, newspapers were awash with reports of how Favour Daley-Oladele, a final year student of Lagos State University, LASU, who went missing on December 8, 2019, was killed allegedly by her boyfriend, Adeeko Owolabi, who was said to have connived with a self-acclaimed pastor, for ritual purpose in Osun State.

Owolabi and his mother allegedly engaged ‘Pastor’ Segun Philips to end Favour’s life in a gruesome manner. The boyfriend allegedly tricked the victim from Lagos to Ikoyi-Ile, Osun State with the promise that he wanted her to meet his parents to approve their relationship.

But unknown to Favour, she was on her last journey on earth as she was led to the church where her head was smashed with a pestle allegedly by Owolabi and butchered by the ‘pastor’, who later removed her vital parts for money ritual.

Narrating how he killed the victim, Owolabi said, “I lured the deceased to Ikoyi-Ile and lodged her in a hotel before killing her. After I lodged her in a guest house, I took her to a house which I claimed to be my uncle’s house, but knowing that the place was a den of ritualists. “I smashed a pestle on her head and she collapsed. The prophet thereafter used a knife and cutlass to dismember her body which was divided into breasts, head and legs and other vital parts. “We buried the remaining parts of her body beside Prophet Philip’s Church called ‘Solution Salvation Chapel’, while some vital parts were given to my mother to eat for spiritual cleansing”.

Owolabi isn’t the first young man who has been arrested for killing his lover in recent past. In 2018, Seidu Adeyemi killed and buried his girlfriend, Khadijat Oluboyo, the daughter of a former Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Mr Lasisi Oluboyo. Adeyemi murdered Khadijat, a student of Adekunle Ajasin University, after inviting her to his house in July 2018. After the killing, Adeyemi buried the deceased in his room for five days before he was exposed by his father who reported to the police.

At Ologbo, Ikpoba Okha local government area of Edo State in November 2018, a teenager, Akpobome Samuel, allegedly strangled his mother to death and had sex with her corpse for ritual.

According to Samuel, who was paraded by the police, “I acted on the instructions of a witch doctor who I contracted for money ritual. “The voodoo doctor told me that after killing my mother, I should sleep with her corpse in order to get rich. “That is why I complied with his instruction and killed her. “I was caught by my grandmother who came to knock on the door having waited patiently for my mother to accompany her to church. She caught me having sex with my mother. “The native doctor told me to kill my mother and sleep with her corpse, but he did not tell me the number of days to sleep with her. “He told me to keep her dead body inside the room for two days but I was caught when I could no longer keep it.

“I did not know that my grandmother was sitting outside. She opened the door and sighted me on the corpse inside the room and raised the alarm that drew the attention of neighbours. “My mother did not offend me. I killed her because of money”.

Apart from people using their loved ones for ritual, there are instances where innocent persons have been used for ritual purposes by people they didn’t know.

Recently, there was an allegation by some residents of Kwara State that some policemen in Adewole Police Division, Ilorin had been selling suspects detained at the station to ritual killers for N 80, 000 per person. Although the state Commissioner of Police, Lawan Ado, said the allegation was false, the state Police Command redeployed policemen at the station. Ado added that no one had come forward with information to indict any police officer at the station for selling suspects to ritual killers. “But we have been redeploying the policemen there. More than half of them have now been transferred and, soon, the other half will be redeployed so that even if there is anybody who is involved – which no information has established – we will at least remove him from the area.”

But a frightening dimension was recorded in suspected cases of ritual killing in Ilorin last year when commercial motorcycle operators allegedly became targets of alleged ritualists. Motorcyclists were said to have been lured into the Government Reservation Area (GRA) of the town by ritualists posing as passengers only to be mowed down by members of the group.

Apart from the commercial motorcyclists, no fewer than six women were killed by suspected ritualists in the area and their breasts removed.

In July 2019, a young man was caught at Corporation Estate, Mile 12, Lagos after he allegedly murdered a commercial sex worker and removed her private part.

Back to Ondo State, the killing of an 80-year-old woman, Mrs. Kojusola Mogaji, in Arigidi-Akoko, created panic in the community. It incident got so scary so much so that Oba Yisa Olanipekun and the entire community embarked on interdenominational prayers and fasting, traditional rites while a vigilante group was raised to unravel ritual killings in the area.

Even the dead are not spared

It is not only the living that are gruesomely murdered and body parts harvested for ritual; the dead are also not allowed to rest in their graves as suspected ritual killers and skull miners exhume remains of dead people which are prepared for ritual.

Three young men, who were arrested by the Oyo State Police Command for being in possession of fresh human parts, confessed that their unbridled desires to get rich quick prompted them to get the body parts for money ritual.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abiodun Odude, said the suspects were arrested after a tip-off by a member of the public. Odude added that the suspects confessed to have removed the body parts from corpses at a Muslim cemetery in Isale General Area of Ogbomoso.

One of the suspects claimed this was his first attempt at using human parts for money ritual.

Another said: “We went to Isale General at Ogbomoso to exhume the bodies at about 8p.m. On our way back, two inquisitive boys, who accosted us on the road, demanded to know where the offensive odour was from. “We tried to deceive them, but they were insistent. So we had to run. They caught one of us before the police arrested us at our homes. “We wanted to use the parts for money ritual. If we had succeeded in taking the corpses to our place, we would have dried and burnt them. “After burning the parts, we will grind the same to powdery substance and mix some of it with soap to take our bath in the morning and to take pap at night. “After we would have done this, some weird creatures, who we generally call demons, will bring money to us — usually at night.”

In another case reported in November 2019, a cemetery vault builder, Kazim Olarewaju, who worked at Okesuna Cemetery, Adeniji Adele area of Lagos island, revealed that he sold two human skulls for N12, 000. Olarewaju, who was arrested by policemen attached to Adeniji Adele Division, alongside two other suspects, Muritala Salami and Amidu Kazeem, explained that this was the second time he was trading in human parts.

Narrating how he got involved in the act, Olarenwaju said, “I work at Okesuna Cemetery. In September, Mr Muritala Salami and his relatives came to the cemetery to bury a relative. “After the burial, he said I should help him to get a biscuit. I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about. He said it was a human skull. “I told him immediately I couldn’t. He collected my telephone number and left but continued to call me till I bulged. “Initially, I asked him to come to the cemetery and take it himself. When he came, I helped him to take the bag outside the cemetery gate so that security guards won’t suspect anything. “The first time he paid me 12,000 for two skulls. “Last week he called me again and I told him to steer clear but he kept threatening me till I agreed to help him get two more human skulls. “It was while I was taking delivery of his order that I was arrested by the police.” Explaining further, Kasim said, “I started working at the cemetery two years ago and I have never been involved in a thing like this before I met Muritala”.

Explaining what he was doing with human skulls, Salami, who said he was a dealer in herbal preparation, said he used them to make charms to enable him get more clients. “I grind the dried human skulls, mix it with pepper and take it with local gin first thing in the morning. Before I began to do this, I was making about N30, 000 daily but afterwards I began to make between N80,000 and N100,000”

Confirming the arrest, spokesperson for Lagos State Police Command, DSP Bala Elkana, said the investigation was ongoing and that the suspects will be charged to court.

From the foregoing, it would appear that native doctors, fake pastors, Muslim clerics and cemetery workers usually work with suspects in the business of ritual killing.

Worried by the spate of ritual killings and bodies’ exhumation from graveyards, then-Assistant Inspector General of Police in Charge of Zone 2, AIG Lawal Shehu, declared war on native doctors and human parts’ dealers in Lagos and Ogun states. Shehu said each time suspects were apprehended, they usually claimed they were herbalists, adding that some native doctors were aiding and abating the practice. He made the declaration after four suspects, identified as Lukmon Bayewunmi, Kabir Badmus, Victor Nnacheta and Nurudeen Sogaolu, were arrested with dried human jaw and scalp.

Compromise

Meanwhile, the police have been accused of compromise on some cases of ritual killing.

For instance during the tenure of CP Imohimi Edgal as Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, precisely in August 2018, two suspected ritualists, Folake Falade and Emmanuel Gbenga were arrested under the Cele Nicer Bridge, Ijanikin, by the police.

Folake, who was almost lynched by an irate mob, said she had been there (Cele Nicer Bridge) for nine years and that her business was to sell human parts to ready buyers. She said her customers usually parked on the bridge at night with their vehicles bonnets opened, pretending that their vehicles had one fault or the other, but unknown to people that they were waiting to buy human parts. According to her, her boys would be beneath the vehicles pretending to be carrying out repairs to douse any suspicion and, in the process, hand over nylon bags containing human parts to the clients.

A resident, Lawrence Oke, claimed that Folake revealed that “whenever she failed to find preys to meet the demands of clients, she would dress seductively and head to a nearby hotel at night”. Oke went on, “Any man that picked her for the night would become prey as he would end up in her den where his body parts would be harvested and sold off to waiting clients.”

The resident further narrated that Folake confessed that she had boys that worked for her.

He added, “She said that once her hands touched someone, that person would lose his senses and follow her sheepishly.”

However, despite what many believed was compelling evidence against the suspect and initial police stand, nothing was heard about the case after the arrest.

Meanwhile, the belief that invoking spirits or demons can bring cash after performing some rituals obviously is what is fuelling ritual killings in parts of the country.

Sunday Vanguard spoke to some of those who should know in this special report.

Source: Weird world of money ritualists

Related articles: 

Breaking: Catholic Church march against rituals, internet fraud by yahoo-boys
Published: November 26, 2019
By: Vanguard Nigeria – Jimitota Onoyume

BREAKING: Oluwo to lead protest against ritual killings, corruption
Published: August 20, 2019
By: Vanguard Nigeria  

‘Ritual killings have always happened in Zambia towards elections’ – says MMD president Dr Nevers Mumba

Sometimes even I am surprised, astonished, flabbergasted. I read about ritualistic killings, witchcraft and superstition nearly every day, but what I just read is mind-boggling.

Read below what Zambia’s MMD president Dr Nevers Mumba recently said (webmaster FVDK).

Zambia can be shipwrecked, Nevers warns pastors
Published: February 1, 2020
By: The Mast (Zambia) – Tobias Phiri 

RITUAL killings have always happened in Zambia towards elections, says MMD president Dr Nevers Mumba.

And Mumba says very few politicians operate without the use of charms, black magic.

He says he “knew the day would come when the Church’s relevance was going to be exaggerated because once these issues begin and people begin to kill for blood that they get into power or remain in power then it goes beyond politics. It’s now the spirit world as much as you [pastors] do and if you do not provide the necessary answers, Zambia can be ship wrecked.”

Speaking during a pastors’ conference in Lusaka’s Chawama township on Thursday, Mumba said it was the Church’s responsibility to pray for the country.

“We have issues going on in Chingola right now, people are being killed, sacrifice for blood and it is true. The Lord spoke to me many years ago that as we come close to any election in this country, those aspiring for power are going to be required to provide amounts of blood in order for them to win their elections. This is not a secret, it’s not [only] happening today, it happens always. Only that it has not been highlighted but I want you to understand that there is witchcraft in politics. Ever since I joined politics what I found is amazing,” he said.

“Very few [politicians] walk free. What they have wrapped around their waists, around their necks and their fingers, you may think its mere clothing but it’s what they use to survive and to win elections. That is why I say when the Church moves in and these things start falling off that is when Zambia shall be saved.”

And commenting on Nigerian prophet Andrew Ejimandu popularly known as Seer 1, Mumba asked Zambians to remain calm as nothing would happen. He urged the people to pray for their leaders.

“What is happening in our country should not scare anybody, its nothing. Zambia is firm on our Christian principles. Someone may ask, ‘what about what Seer is saying?’ None of that moves us, the only people who should be concerned are those who are seeking ‘power’ from him,” Mumba said.

“Pray for leaders whether in opposition or in government. Don’t say you can’t pray for that president because you don’t love him, pray because you love the Word of God [and] that you are the defender of Zambia. If you don’t pray for that president he will make a decision tomorrow that is going to make your children die along the way. I take time to pray for President [Edgar] Lungu myself as often as I can because the bible commands so – ‘pray for those in authority’.”

Mumba said: “If you turn to social media, you will be amazed by the intensity of debate on spiritual matters that affect our country today”.

“I knew the day would come when the Church’s relevance was going to be exaggerated because once these issues begin and people begin to kill for blood that they get into power or remain in power then it goes beyond politics. It’s now the spirit world as much as you [pastors] do and if you do not provide the necessary answers, Zambia can be ship wrecked,” he warned.

Mumba said the MMD under his leadership was going to turn around fortunes of the country. 

“There are two forces that rule in every nation, the physical and the spiritual. I am not just in politics for political power, I am a double sim which is extremely dangerous. That is why spirits will fight me more than any other politician because I’m saying let us change the atmosphere. The atmosphere of Zambia must be changed and we are going to do it in Jesus’ name,” said Mumba.

Source: Zambia can be shipwrecked, Nevers warns pastors

Liberia: Boy discovered dead in Nimba County; cause of death linked to ritualistic rites

Yesterday morning I posed a question – in fact, I made a statement expressing my opinion – but could not imagine that a sad event would soon confirm my view.

I stated: “Ritual murders still occur in Liberia, notably during election campaigns, and the fear of ritualistic killings is a daily preoccupation of many Liberians.”  See yesterday’s  post Ritual murders and elections in Liberia

Then I read the news, later, yesterday evening. “Boy Discovered Dead in Nimba’s Sixth District; Cause of Death Linked to Ritualistic Rites”.

Sad news. I prefer to have been wrong. When will it end in Liberia? When will it stop, ritualistic murders? How come that it does not stop in Liberia (and elsewhere)?

Many questions. Now first the facts.
(webmaster FVDK).

Boy Discovered Dead in Nimba’s Sixth District; Cause of Death Linked to Ritualistic Rites

Published: January 31, 2020
By: The Bush Chicken – Jerry Myers

SANNIQUELLIE, Nimba – A 9-year-old boy has been found dead in a hideout in Nimba’s sixth district, with his body partially dismembered and missing key body parts. The body of Lee Arthur was found on Thursday, Jan. 23 in Sahn Village.

The cause of death remains unknown. However, residents of the village suspect that his missing body parts is an indication that he may be a victim of a ritualistic murder.

Coroners from Boe and Quella administrative districts, as well as Liberia National Police officers in Bahn, Nimba’s seventh district, who visited the scene crime, have all ruled out death from natural causes, suggesting that the child was murdered.

The head of Boe and Quella Administrative District’s Coroner Office, Moses Kargou, described the incident as “too scaring” and the first of its kind in the district since he took up his position in 2005.

“Since my father who was the district coroner died in 2005, and the district people chose me to serve [in] the position, this is my first time to see such ugly act,” Kargou said. “People can get drowned in water, and several other deaths have been happening here. But today, to see someone butchered like [an] animal, it is bad.”

Kargou expressed doubts that the crime was committed by a stranger to the village, suggesting that the perpetrator must be a member of the community. His passionate plea, therefore, was for the police to bring the killers to justice. Kargou then pledged the village’s fullest cooperation in the investigation.

“We can only hear about these kinds of acts on the main road, but for someone to travel this far to commit such an act is really serious,” he noted.

Four persons are already suspected in the alleged murder and are currently in police custody in Bahn.

Following the coroners’ examination and police forensic investigation, the victim’s remains were turned over to his family who, without money to preserve it at a mortuary, has gone forward with burial.

There has been no formal indictment of any suspect as the police investigation continues.

Source: Boy Discovered Dead in Nimba’s Sixth District; Cause of Death Linked to Ritualistic Rites

Nimba County, Liberia