Abia State, Nigeria: after monarch Eze Philip Ajomuiwe raises the alarm, police probe discovery of over 30 mutilated corpses – ritual killings suspected

Warning: the following article contains graphic details which may upset readers.

The Federal Republic of Nigeria is divided into six geopolitical zones commonly called zones. Abia State is located in the South East geopolitical zone of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. (It is not to be confused with Abia, a town in Enugu State, north of Abia State, also in the South East geopolitical zone.)

The capital of Abia State is Umuahia.

Abia State is an inland state and one of Nigeria’s smallest states. With a surface area of 6,320 km2 it ranks 32nd (out of 36 states). It had an estimated population of nearly 5 million people, the majority of whom are Christians (2024) resulting in a 26th position. The most populous city is Aba, the state’s commercial center.

In 1991, Abia state was created out of Imo State, the two states are considered sister states and were part of the Eastern Region which in the late 1960s attempted to secede (Biafran War). The Igbo people are one of the indigenous peoples of the South-eastern part of Nigeria and make up 95% of the population.

A traditional local ruler, His Royal Highness (HRH) Eze Philip Ajomuiwe, recently raised the alarm, revealing that over 30 bodies had been dumped into the Imo river between 2024 and February 2025. Reportedly the corpses found were mutilated, a sign that the victims had been killed for ritualistic purposes.

The traditional ruler of Oriendu Autonomous Community in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, His Royal Highness Eze Philip Ajomiwe, has expressed deep concern following the discovery of more than 30 unidentified bodies in the Imo River over the past year. In a recent press briefing at his palace, Eze Ajomiwe disclosed that the victims, predominantly young women, were often found unclothed, with missing body parts, or enclosed in bags. Source: Instagram – peopleofabia_en myowerriblog

Since the authorities have failed to arrest any suspects, the monarch expressed his worries that the situation of fear in the region will last and he was appealing to the state government to take immediate and adequate action.
(webmaster FVDK)

Police probe discovery of 30 mutilated corpses in Abia community

Published: February 7, 2025
By: Steve Oko – Vanguard, Nigeria

The Abia State Police Command said it had launched an investigation into the alleged discovery of 30 bodies of suspected  ritual  killings in Imo River in Oriendu community.

This is coming on the heels of the alarm by the traditional ruler of the community, HRH Eze Philip Ajomuiwe, that over 30 bodies had been dumped into the river between 2024 and February 2025.

Abia State Police Public Relations Officer, Maureen Chilaka, told Vanguard that the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ohuhu Police Division, had commenced an investigation into the sad development.

She said the community shared a boundary with Imo State, adding that Police were collaborating with vigilantes in the area to unravel those behind the dastardly act.

The PPRO said  that even though there had been no official complaint to the police about the ugly  incident, the Command based on the inquiries by Vanguard, had initiated an investigation into the matter.

She vowed that those behind the heinous crime would not escape the long arm of the law.

Eze Ajomuiwe had while addressing newsmen in his palace at the weekend, revealed that over 30 bodies, mostly young ladies had been dumped into the river by suspected ritualists from Imo State.

He said that the bodies, usually naked and without private parts, were dumped into the river in the middle of the night by the killers as the community wakes to see them in the morning.

He said: “The bodies, like the recent one, are either completely naked and without their private parts or in a bag. There have also been cases of two decomposing bodies seen beside the NNPC pipeline.

“The victims are mostly young girls. The ritualists from Imo usually come at night to dump the bodies of their victims inside the Imo River, and in the morning we wake to see them”.

The monarch expressed worry that no arrest had been made by security agencies since the incident began, adding that his subjects now live in fear.

According to him, efforts by the community’s vigilante group to arrest the suspects had failed too, because the group is not as equipped as the suspects are said to be.

“So, we’re appealing to the state government to empower the vigilante group with the necessary logistics and the wherewithal to enable it to match the suspects,” he said.

He argued that nobody ever embarks on such a mission with empty hands especially when the enemy is fully armed with sophisticated weapons and is ready to fight back.

The monarch said that his complaints about the situation to security agents had been to no avail, noting that the latest was a letter to the Speaker of the State House of Assembly on February 7.

“ We have reported even to the DSS and they came here and held a meeting with us. We need the Government’s intervention to apprehend those behind this atrocity”.

Source: Police probe discovery of 30 dead bodies in Abia community

Liberia war crimes: Sierra Leone rebel commander acquitted of rape, ritual murder and the recruitment of child soldiers  

Gibril Massaquoi is a former commander of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a notorious rebel group in Sierra Leone responsible for a long list of atrocities, human rights violations and war crimes. Massaquoi is a Sierra Leonian national and was arrested in Finland in March 2020; accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Liberia.

Gibril Massaquoi played an important role – as a key-witness – during the trial of warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor who was found guilty of war crimes and human rights violations in Sierra Leone and sentenced to 50 years in prison by the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL).

For briefness sake I refer to the following site for more background information on this person: Liberia: Past and Present of Africa’s Oldest Republic, click here.

Highly recommended reading is also Justice Info Net, in particular Thierry Cruvelliers’ contribution: THE MASSAQUOI AFFAIR: SPECIAL REPORT ON THE JUDAS OF SIERRA LEONE (PART 1 and PART 2).
(webmaster FVDK)

Liberia war crimes: Sierra Leone rebel commander acquitted by court in Finland

Published: April 29, 2022
By: BBC

Gibril Ealoghima Massaquoi denies murders, rape and recruiting child soldiers

A court in Finland has acquitted a rebel commander of rape, ritual murder and the recruitment of child soldiers during Liberia’s civil war.

The court said there was not enough proof to convict Gibril Massaquoi. 

The 52-year-old is from Sierra Leone and was a senior member of a notorious rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), that also fought in neighbouring Liberia from 1999 to 2003.

He had moved to Finland in 2008 and was arrested two years ago.

Mr Massaquoi was a school teacher when Sierra Leone’s civil war began in 1991. He joined the RUF, quickly rising through the ranks to become spokesman of the group which was notorious for atrocities such as hacking off the limbs of civilians, as well as murder and rape.

But he then gave evidence to the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone set up to investigate war crimes committed in that conflict.

He was relocated to Finland as part of a witness protection programme, which provided immunity for crimes committed in Sierra Leone, but not Liberia.

Prosecutors alleged that in Liberia, Mr Massaquoi had ordered buildings with people locked inside to be torched, and described the widespread rape and murder of civilians, often by enslaved child soldiers.

The ex-rebel said he was not in Liberia at the time.

The Finnish court had decamped to the Liberian capital, Monrovia, for a while to hear local testimony.

Around 250,000 people were killed during the internal conflicts that ended in 2003.

This was the first prosecution over Liberia’s civil war to be partially held in the country, although Mr Massaquoi remained in Finland.

Screenshot – Miatta, former child soldier in Liberia: “I know I killed people”
To watch the video, please click on the link mentioned below (under ‘Source’)

Former Liberian President Taylor was convicted by an international criminal court in 2012 of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but that was in connection with the conflict in Sierra Leone. He is serving his 50-year sentence in a prison in the UK.

His son “Chuckie” Taylor was sentenced to 97 years in prison in a US federal court in 2009 for torturing and killing people while he was the head of Liberia’s anti-terrorist services.

Ex-warlord Mohammed “Jungle Jabbah” Jabateh has been jailed for 30 years in the US for lying about his past as a leader of a force that carried out multiple murders and acts of cannibalism.

And Alieu Kosiah was last year convicted of war crimes in Switzerland.

Source: Liberia war crimes: Sierra Leone rebel commander acquitted by court in Finland