Nigeria: Delta court sentences man to death for killing twins for rituals

Warning: The following articles may upset readers because of the graphic contents (webmaster FVDK).

The surge in murders for ritualistic purposes and related witchcraft activities in certain SSA countries has led to an increasing cry for the restoration of the death penalty for convicted ritual killers. In recent years, several African countries have resorted to the (sometimes) re-introduction of capital punishment in an attempt to stop these criminal and outdated traditional practices. In Nigeria a number of states have adopted legislation allowing the sentencing to death of convicted ritual murderers which does not always mean that they are actually executed.

National and international organizations like Amnesty International emphasize that the death penalty breaches human rights including the right to life and the right to live free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Both rights are protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN in 1948. Nigeria is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Please note: the link which leads to the Punch article reproduced below also mentions three other cases of ritualistic killings (‘money rituals’) in Nigeria: two in Anambra State (including a suspected case of ritual killing) and one in Ogun State. Though a coincidence it illustrates well that ‘money rituals’ are rampant in Africa’s most populated country.
(webmaster FVDK)

Nigeria: Delta court sentences man to death for killing twins for rituals

Published: July 16, 2024
By: Matthew Ochei – Punch, Nigeria

A High Court sitting at Asaba, the Delta State capital, has sentenced one Onuwa Ijie to death, and Nwanozie Uzor to 14 years imprisonment for murder and conspiracy to commit the murder of twin boys, Chidalu and Chigozie Agwunobi.

The court presided over by Justice Onome Marshal-Umukoro sentenced two convicts over the murder of the seven-year-old boys.

The prosecution conducted by a Deputy Director in the Ministry of Justice, Mrs Paula Akpoguma, in proof of the case called five witnesses.

The court held that the testimony of the five witnesses proved the case against the two defendants beyond reasonable doubt.

The prosecution stated that tragedy struck the family of Olise Agwunobi of Oko-Ogbele Community on March 5, 2020, when their seven-year-old twin boys were lured by the defendants to a bush and they proceeded to cut off their penis, eyes, tongues and hands which they hurriedly took to a native doctor at Aguleri in Anambra State.

“One of the defendants had earlier gone to the school of the twin children to take them but was turned down by the school teacher, one Mrs Emelda Ezekwude,” she said.

Delivering his judgment, Justice Marshal-Umukoro stated that after carefully evaluating the evidence presented before him, the prosecution had discharged the burden of proof as the first defendant from his confessional statement was the person who sowed the seed of committing human rituals in the mind of the second defendant by giving the phone number of one Chukwudi  Edemuzor who was alleged to be searching for twins to kill for money.

The court maintained that the law is settled that the testimony of an investigating police officer was not hearsay evidence, and the court can rely on it.

Speaking with journalists after the judgment on Tuesday, the prosecuting counsel, Akpoguma thanked the court for upholding the cause of justice, “reaffirming that the judicial system works.”

Source: Delta court sentences man to death for killing twins for rituals

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Court sentences man to death over murder of twins in Delta

Published: July 17, 2024
By: Damilare Famuyima – Pulse, Nigeria

The twins boys were seven years old (Daily Trust)

The suspect and his accomplice were said to have murdered the twin boys for ritual purposes.

Justice Onome Marshal Umukoro of a High Court in Asaba, Delta State Capital, has sentenced Onuwa Ijie to death and his accomplice, Nwanozie Uzor, to 14 years imprisonment for the murder and conspiracy to murder twin boys, Chidalu and Chigozie Agwunobi.

The sentencing came after the court heard the case against the two men for the murder of the seven-year-old boys.

Deputy Director in the Ministry of Justice, Paula Akpoguma, led the prosecution, presenting five witnesses to support the case. 

A sixth witness, 15-year-old Iweka Ajie, the younger brother of one of the defendants, initially agreed to testify via video link but ultimately refused out of fear.

The court determined that the testimony of the five witnesses sufficiently proved the case against the defendants beyond a reasonable doubt. 

According to the prosecution, on March 5, 2020, the family of Olise Agwunobi of Oko-Ogbele Community suffered a tragedy when their seven-year-old twin boys were lured to a bush by the defendants. 

There, the boys were mutilated, and their body parts were taken to a native doctor in Aguleri, Anambra State.

One of the defendants had earlier attempted to take the children from their school but was turned away by the school teacher, Mrs. Emelda Ogugua Ezekwude,” Akpoguma said.

Justice Onome Marshal-Umukoro, in his judgment, concluded that the prosecution had met the burden of proof.

He noted that the first defendant’s confessional statement indicated that he had introduced the idea of human rituals to the second defendant by providing the phone number of Chukwudi Edemuzor, who was allegedly seeking twins for ritual purposes.

The court held that the testimony of the Investigating Police Officer was admissible and not hearsay.

After the judgment, Akpoguma expressed gratitude to the court for delivering justice, reaffirming her belief in the effectiveness of the judicial system.

Source: Court sentences man to death over murder of twins in Delta

Nigeria, Ondo State: native doctor, grandmother arrested for allegedly killing a day-old baby for ritual purposes

An allegedly gruesome ritual murder was committed in Ondo State last month, in December 2023. The victim was a day-old baby.

The authorities arrested the 66-year old grandmother of the innocent child together with a native doctor, the two had connived to murder the baby for ritual purposes.

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

Ondo State, nicknamed ‘the Sunshine State’, is located in the South West geopolitical zone of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria is divided into six geopolitical zones commonly called zones. 

Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones

Ondo State is Nigeria’s 19th most populated state with an estimated population of 5.1 million people in 2022. It’s one of Nigeria’s smaller states: it’s the country’s 25th largest state with a land area of about 14,606 km² (5,639 square miles).

Ondo State is a ‘Yoruba State’: the state’s ethnic population consist mainly of Yoruba and Yoruba subgroups. The vast majority of the population practices a Christian religion, minorities are muslim or consist of traditional animist worshippers. Source: Wikipedia.

For the official website of the Ondo State government: click here

Ondo: native doctor, grandmother arrested for allegedly killing a day-old baby for ritual purposes

Published: December 15, 2023
By: Kazeem Badmus – OsunDefender, Nigeria

A self confessed prophet, Akinjise Ifeoluwa and a 66-year-old grandmother, Oyewole Margaret, have been arrested by the Ondo Police detectives for the alleged murder of a day-old baby in lsua, Akoko South East council area of Ondo state.

Osun Defender gathered that Margaret is the grandmother of the day-old baby, that was murdered after birth.

The medium learnt that the grandmother and the prophet were accused by the mother of the day-old baby, Oyewole Oluwaseun.

The mother said the duo murdered her baby for alleged ritual purposes.

The prophet and the grandmother were arrested following a complaint lodged at the lsua police division that Oluwaseun who just gave birth to a baby couldn’t give a satisfactory account of her baby’s whereabouts.

Police image maker, Funmi Odunlami, while parading the two suspects, in Akure, said that “the complainant said that his sister has been pregnant for 9 months and observed that she had delivered and when asked about the baby, she claimed the baby had died and has been buried with the aid of their mother without informing any family member.

Odunlami added that “The Police later arrested one Akinjise Ifeoluwa ‘m’ aged 40 years and Oyewole Margaret ‘f’ aged 66 years in connection with the case.

“In the course of investigation, it was discovered that her mother, Oyewole Margaret entrusted her care to a native doctor named Akinjise Ifeoluwa who also claimed to be a prophet.

“The mother of the baby stated that she got pregnant for Akinjise and that on the day of delivery, her mother and Akinjise were constantly communicating through phone and that the Prophet ordered her mother to block the child’s nostrils to enable the baby to die.

“The prophet said it is an abomination for the baby to be alive because it will lead to the death of the lady as the Prophet claimed she had slept with another man while pregnant for him except her mother wants to lose her after fourteen (14) days.

“After she regained her strength, her mother informed her that the baby had died and the baby and the placenta had been buried.

“However, when the purported place of burial was visited, neither the baby nor the placenta was found.”

In an interview, the mother of the day-old baby, Oluwaseun, said her mother, Margaret, conspired with the prophet to kill her baby for rituals.

Oluwaseun told newsmen that her mother forcefully took her away from her former husband after bearing two children for him under the pretext that he wasn’t taking care of her.

She said that the prophet and her mother should explain the whereabouts of her baby.

Source: Prophet, Grandmother Arrested For Allegedly Killing A Day-Old Baby

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Ondo: Police arrest grandmother, prophet for allegedly killing day-old baby

Published: December 15, 2023
By: Hakeem Gbadamosi – Nigerian Online

Men of the Ondo State Police Command have arrested a 66-year-old grandmother, Oyewole Margaret, and a self-proclaimed prophet, Ifeoluwa Akinjise, over the killing of a day-old baby in Isua Akoko, in the Akoko South-East council area of Ondo State.

The duo is alleged to have conspired to kill the day-old baby immediately after delivery by his mother, Oluwaseun Oyewole, and then hurriedly buried the remains.

A relative of the mother reported the incident to the police after discovering that the sister, who had just given birth, was without the baby. It was later revealed that the grandmother and the prophet had collaborated to kill the baby for alleged ritual purposes.

The prophet and the grandmother were subsequently arrested following a complaint lodged at the Isua police division.

The State Police spokesperson, Funmi Odunlami, confirmed the arrest, stating that the baby’s mother’s brother lodged the complaint.

Odunlami said, “The complainant said that his sister had been pregnant for 9 months and observed that she had delivered. When asked about the baby, she claimed the baby had died and had been buried with the aid of their mother without informing any family member.

“The Police later arrested one Akinjise Ifeoluwa, aged 40, and Oyewole Margaret, aged 66, in connection with the case. In the course of investigation, it was discovered that her mother, Oyewole Margaret, entrusted her care to a native doctor named Akinjise Ifeoluwa, who also claimed to be a prophet.

“The mother of the baby stated that she got pregnant for Akinjise, and on the day of delivery, her mother and Akinjise were constantly communicating through the phone. The Prophet ordered her mother to block the child’s nostrils to enable the baby to die.

“The prophet said it is an abomination for the baby to be alive because it will lead to the death of the lady. The Prophet claimed she had slept with another man while pregnant for him unless her mother want to lose her after fourteen (14) days.

“After she regained her strength, her mother informed her that the baby had died, and the baby and the placenta had been buried. However, when the purported place of burial was visited, neither the baby nor the placenta was found.”

The mother of the day-old baby, Oluwaseun, claimed that her mother and the prophet conspired to kill her baby for rituals. She accused her mother of forcefully taking her away from her former husband after bearing two children for him, under the pretext that he wasn’t taking care of her.

She mentioned that the prophet and her mother constantly communicated on the phone and conspired to kill the baby, with the prophet instructing her mother to suffocate the baby by blocking the nose. She urged the police to question her mother and the prophet to explain the whereabouts of her baby.

Source: Ondo: Police arrest grandmother, prophet for allegedly killing day-old baby

Map of Nigeria showing Ondo State among the 36 states of the Federation

Nigeria, Osun State: three suspects arrested for exhuming corpses for rituals

In December 2023 authorities in Osun State arrested three suspects accused of a remarkable and sinister criminal act: exhuming corpses from graves and removing body parts for ritualistic purposes.

Let the facts speak for themselves. Even though their alleged unscrupulous behavior – they confessed that they wanted to sell the body parts for money-making rituals – does not include murder it is a revolting act based on superstition, greed, and a criminal mind.

Osun State is located in located in the South West geopolitical zone of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria is divided into six geopolitical zones commonly called zones.

Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones

Osun State is one of Nigeria’s smallest states measured in land area. The state ranks 28th of 36 states – in order of their surface areas – with a total land area of 9,252 km2 (3,572 sq.ml).

The state’s population, an estimated 5 to 6 million people, occupies a 19th place, in majority of the Yoruba ethnic group with major sub-ethnic groups the Ife, Ijesha, Oyo, Ibolo and Igbomina. Christian, muslim and traditional religions can be found throughout the state.
(webmaster FVDK).

For the official website of the Osun State government: click here

Nigeria: 3 exhume corpses for rituals in Osun State

Published: December 12, 2023
By: Según Ojo – The Star, Nigeria

The operatives of the Osun State Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun, have arrested no fewer than three suspects for allegedly exhuming corpses from graves and removing body parts for rituals in the state.

The Amotekun spokesperson, Adeniyi Brown, made the disclosure in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, on Tuesday, December 12, 2023.

He disclosed that the suspects – an automobile mechanic, 43; a driver, 56; and a native doctor – were all arrested in the Iwo area of the state.

Brown said the suspects were apprehended following intelligence received by the Corps about their despicable acts.

He noted that when interrogated, the suspects made confessional statements that they exhumed corpses from graves and sold the body parts for money-making rituals.

He said the Amotekun Commander in the state, Brig.-Gen. Bashir Adewinmbi (rtd), had directed that the suspects should be transferred to the police for further investigation and prosecution.

Brown quoted Adewinmbi as appealing to residents of Osun State to be more security conscious and report any suspicious activity in their environment to security agencies.

”When you see something, please always say something,” Adewinmbi said.

Source: 3 exhume corpses for rituals in Osun

Map of Nigeria showing Osun State among the 36 states of the Federation

Nigeria: ritual killers disguised as lovers

One of the craziest stories I read yesterday (see yesterday’s posting) follows below. It contains a wise lesson but also a chilling story. Whereas at fist sight it reports on ‘ordinary’ criminal activities, the reader soon discovers that more is going on: ritualistic activities, ‘money business’, ‘money rituals’ – and that’s the reason why the article has been included here.

The incidents took place in various parts of the country, not related to a particular region, social class, or ethnic group. The first mentioned murder occurred recently in Lagos (June 2021), but other reported ‘money rituals’ happened in Benue State, Ogun State, Ondo State, Osun State, and – again – Lagos State (2012, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021). Some of these murder cases have been reported on extensively earlier on this site.

Warning: Some readers may find the following story disturbing (FVDK).

MORE AND MORE NIGERIANS ARE FALLING VICTIM TO HARBINGERS OF DEATH DISGUISING AS LOVERS, KUNLE AKINRINADE REPORTS FOLLOWING THE CASE OF A COMPANY’S CHIEF EXECUTIVE FOUND DEAD LAST SUNDAY IN A LAGOS SERVICE APARTMENT HE ALLEGEDLY LODGED IN WITH A SIDE CHIC.

Published: June 26, 2021
By: The Nation, Nigeria- Kunle Akinrinade

Incidents of individuals’ death in the process of romance with the opposite sex increased by one early in the week with the demise of billionaire businessman and chief executive officer of Super TV, Michael Usifo Ataga, allegedly after an outing with a side chic.

Ataga, a resident of highbrow Banana Island in Lagos, was said to have been reported missing on Sunday by concerned friends and family members as his whereabouts became unknown.

Everyone, including his wife and children who were resident in Abuja, was said to have become worried when the checks made at Ataga’s office in Victoria Island, Lagos showed that he was nowhere in sight while he could also not be found at his Banana Island residence.

It turned out later that his lifeless body was found in a three-bedroom service apartment in Lekki Phase 1, Lagos with multiple wounds inflicted on his body and several withdrawals made from his bank account supposedly by a mystery woman he had checked into the apartment with.

Investigation conducted by security agents would later reveal that Ataga’s death occurred about two weeks after he met the woman in question and they checked into the said apartment at Lekki Phase 1.

A combined team of the police and DSS operatives from Abuja were said to have unveiled the identity of the owner of the apartment in which Ataga was found dead and it was discovered that she had received payments from the side chic’s bank account into which Ataga himself had previously made a transfer.

Happily, the side chic in question has since been tracked down by security operatives and arrested alongside the owner of the Lekki Phase 1 apartment.

One death too many

Ataga’s case is one in the long list of Nigerians who in recent times have fallen victim to murderous fraudsters disguising as lovers. For instance, when Akin Alupaida invited his girlfriend from her base in Ibadan, Oyo State to his base in Apomu, Isokan Local Government Area, Osun State on June 8, the unnamed lady had no reason to suspect that she was about to be murdered by the man that had professed love to her.

However, the said lady was butchered into pieces by her supposed lover after a romp at an apartment belonging to the latter’s friend. The police said that Akin’s accomplice and owner of the apartment, Kabiru Oyeduntan, barged into the room and assisted his friend in strangling the 20-year-old lady to death and dismembering her for ritual purposes.

Parading Oyeduntan at the Osun Police Command headquarters on June 11, the Commissioner of Police, Wale Olokode, explained that the suspect was arrested based on a tip-off from members of the public. Olokode said the head, wrist, and other parts of the lady’s body were found by detectives inside a box in one of the suspect’s rooms.

In his confession, Oyeduntan said the lady in question was killed for the purpose of using her for money rituals by his identified as Akin (O’clumsy) Alupaida.

He said: “It was my friend that brought the lady to my place from Ibadan. But he already told me that he wanted to do a money ritual. He sought my assistance and promised to give me N50,000. I agreed.”

“While he was having sex with her, I came in and assisted him to hold her two legs, and he strangled her to death.

“Akin was the one who dismembered the lady’s body. He removed the heart, private parts and took them away.”

Eighteen months after she mysteriously disappeared amid preparations for her wedding in December 2019, the remains of Josephine Cynthia Onche, an operative of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), were found in a shallow grave in the Obi Local Government Area, Benue State, where her body was dumped after she was killed for rituals by the same man she had announced in a wedding invite as her husband to-be.

The arrest of Josephine’s would-be husband, Christopher, led to the exhumation of her body from a shallow grave in a local government close to Otukpo.

It was said that a commercial motorcyclist who knew about the incident reported to Josephine’s family.

Christopher had allegedly brought in a native doctor from Ogun State to carry out money rituals with Josephine’s body parts.

“The commercial motorcycle rider led security operatives to arrest Christopher, an Igbo man, and he led the police to Ogun State where they arrested a native doctor who allegedly performed a ritual with the woman’s body in Obi Local Government Area of Benue State before returning to Ogun State,” a source reportedly said.

Like Osun and Benue incidents, the murder of the first daughter of former Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Khadijat Olubiyo, made headlines in 2018.

Khadijat, a final year student of Adekunle Ajasin University in Akungba Akoko (AAUA) was allegedly strangled to death by her boyfriend, Seidu Adeyemi, who was said to have buried her remains in a shallow grave in his room in Okearo area of Akure, the state capital, covered it with the rug and slept on the grave for five days.

In 2019, one Abosede Adeyemi Iyanda was gruesomely murdered by her former boyfriend, Segun Olaniyi, who dismembered her and used her body parts for money-making rituals.

As the story goes, Olaniyi, 42, was Abosede’s ex-lover, who promised to help her with some money but instead hatched a plan to use her for money rituals.

Olaniyi called one Akanbi Babalola and Ayo Adeleye on the phone to come and do the slaughtering of the woman who was formerly his girlfriend but now married to another man when she visited him in his offshore office.

While in his office, Olaniyi told Adeleye to go and buy food for the woman, who they said felt very tired after walking a long distance to get there. Segun then put in the food a drug that would make her feel weak and sleepy.

Olaniyi later told her to go to the stream beside his office and wash her hair while she was completely naked. He asked Adeleye and Akanbi to lead her there.

But while Abosede was washing her hair, Adeleye pushed her head into the river, brought out a pocket knife and killed her. Both of them then pulled her body out from the river and dismembered it, separating the flesh from the bones as instructed by Olaniyi.

They later cut the flesh into pieces and sold them to some herbalists, alfas and a pastor who needed them for money rituals. Some of them also allegedly roasted the meat and ate it, washing it down with hot drinks.

Police said that Olaniyi was tracked and arrested, and his arrest led to the recovery of Abosede’s body parts from different Ogun villages where he buried or sold her mutilated remains.

Other suspects arrested in connection with Abosede’s murder include Adeifa Sogbeyinde (37), Rasaq Rasaq Arabs (27), Sunday Akinyemi (41), Adewole Olwafemi aka Pastor (38), Mustapha Ajibola aka Alfa (31), Mustapha Iliya (30), Shilola Amodu aka Alfa (38), Jamiu Abass (25), Smooth  Kazeem aka Alfa (37) and Adesola  Oduyemi (56).

Confessing, Olaniyi said: “She called me on the phone saying that she was coming to see me. I asked her the reason for her visit and she said she wanted financial assistance to boost her business.

“I called Akanbi, who is my helping hand, and told him to come around because someone would be visiting us. Already, we had work at hand, so Akanbi suggested that we use her for the work.

“We killed her beside my house. I took the head, two hands and part of the meat. I sold the head to Africa for N40,000. I sold one of the hands to an orthodox doctor named Murideen for N15,000 and the other hand to Tonight for N15,000. I sold the flesh to one Alfa named Sunday Akinyemi (N10,000), Rasaq (N5,000) and Mustafa (N5,000).

“It was Ajibola that introduced Mustapha Iliya to me. I used part of the flesh to do powdered medicine which if taken with a hot drink would draw customers.

“At times, we kill the husbands of some of our customers to turn them into widows so that they would join us in bringing victims to be slaughtered.”

His confession led the IRT detectives to Abeokuta and different Ogun villages like Ifo, Itori, Papalanto and Adigbe, where eleven suspects were arrested and eight of them confessed to the kidnapping, killing and selling of the body parts of the victim.

Among the items recovered by IRT operatives were decomposed human breasts, burnt human flesh mixed with  liquid substance in a bottle and calabash, one complete human foot, pieces of dry human skull, a Laura SUV with registration number KTU801FP, one Bajaj Boxer motorcycle with Registration number JGB019VC, one unregistered Toyota Corolla and one Toyota Matrix with Registration number AKD703FU.

Other recent cases

It will be recalled that in June 2020, a 39-year-old man, Chris Ndukwe, committed suicide in Lagos after killing his 25-year-old girlfriend, Olamide Alli.

Police said that Ndukwe and Alli were found dead at the former’s residence at Road 5, House 16A, Victory Point Estate, Ilasan, Lagos, after a tip-off to officers of Ilasan Police Station.

A statement issued by the then police spokesman, Bala Elkana, said: “The woman was found lying in a pool of blood, with deep cuts on her head, while the man’s mouth was foaming with whitish substance.

“It was alleged that the man stabbed the woman to death with a kitchen knife and thereafter drank some poisonous substances suspected to be insecticides.

“Two blood-stained kitchen knives, two empty bottles of the poisonous substances, three empty cans of Red Bull energy drink and a plier were recovered from the scene.”

Elkana added that family members of the deceased lovers revealed that they were not married but had a relationship for over seven years, adding that they had two boys, aged seven and three.

He said: “Their relationship is described as complicated, as the couples were on and off over the years. While the man lives at Victory Point Estate Ibadan, the woman lives at Ogba (Lagos).

“The woman was said to have visited the man alongside her 22-year-old sister a night before the incident, on his invitation.

He said that Alli’s sister was the first to have noticed that they were both dead and raised the alarm.

Elkana added: “In her (Alli’s sister) statement, she was woken up by a loud music from the room where the corpses were found, as herself and the kids slept in a different room.”

On July 21, 2012, a postgraduate student of Nasarawa State University, Cynthia Osokogu, then 25 years old, was lured from Abuja to Lagos by Okwumo Nwabufo, who she had met and befriended on Facebook.

Nwabufo had paid for the deceased’s flight ticket from Abuja and lodged her in Room C1 at Cosmilla Hotel, Lake View Estate, Festac Town, Lagos, where he later connived with one Olisaeloka Ezike, and murdered the young lady.

The duo drugged Cynthia by putting Rohypnol in her drink after which they tied her hands and legs and also gagged her mouth with a handkerchief and part of her hair weave on.

Cynthia’s killers thereafter stole her two Blackberry mobile phones, jewellery, sex toy vibrator, passport and a pair of shoes.

In December 2019, a 23-year old man, Adeeko Owolabi, reportedly connived with a 42-year-old self-acclaimed pastor of a white garment church, Segun Philip, to murder his girlfriend and final year Sociology student at the Lagos State University, Favour Daley-Oladele.

According to the spokesman of Ogun State Police Command, Owolabi, who was arrested in Ikoyi-Ile area of Osun State, confessed that he used his girlfriend to prepare a ritual meal for himself and his own mother who he claimed had been broke.

According to Oyeyemi, “the deceased was reported to have left home to an unknown destination since the 8th of December, 2019 and had not been seen since then; hence, she was reported missing by her parents at Mowe Police Station.

“Upon the report, the DPO Mowe Division, SP Marvis Jayeola, detailed his crack detectives to unravel the mystery behind the sudden disappearance of the 22-year-old woman.

Source: Killer lovers on the prowl – Concerns over activities of crime merchants disguising as lovers

Liberia: adolescent girl tortured, accused of witchcraft

I’ve hesitated to include the article below on this blog – partly because of the gruesome nature of the described act, partly because of the graphic description of the treatment, obviously a form of torture, which family members inflicted upon a girl they accused of witchcraft and being responsible for the death of an uncle.

Eventually I decided to reproduce the article here and to share it with a larger audience. The reason why I choose to do so is because witchcraft lies at the bottom of their repulsive behavior. This site is focusing on superstition and everything which relates to it in a criminal way: ritualistic acts, ritual murders, ‘money rituals’ (Nigeria), muti murders (in Southern Africa), and – indeed – witchcraft. The fact that the ultimate victim, a young and innocent girl, was maltreated and tortured was another reason for drawing attention to this incident. Unfortunately, rape is a daily crime in Liberia and most perpetrators get away with their crimes. In Liberia, impunity seems to be the rule, and not the rule of law.

Therefore, again a warning: the following article contains graphic details of a form of torture (webmaster FVDK).

Liberia: Adolescent Girl Sodomized After Being Thrown Out for Witchcraft

Published: July 3, 2020
By: FrontPage Africa 

MONROVIA – A girl believed in her late teens has been sexually assaulted in her anus after she was thrown out of her family in Omega Tower Community on accusation on her being witchcraft.

According to a source close to the family, the incident occurred on Tuesday, June 30, 2020 night when she was asleep.

The girl (name withheld) was discovered early Wednesday morning lying helpless on the main road that links Montserrado to Margibi, crying for rescue.

Some community members felt pity for her, took her from the street, gave her food and water. They at the same time called the Women and Children Division of the Liberia National Police to take the survivor to hospital for treatment.

Her current condition has left community members blaming her family for neglecting her and throwing her out of the house after alleging that she confessed killing her 25 years old uncle (name withheld) in May of this year after a brief period of illness.           

A family source interviewed by this paper narrated that after the death of the uncle, the survivor and her partners were tortured and beaten badly on grounds that they are responsible for his death. This, according to the source, caused her mother and father to escape with her other siblings leaving her at the mercy of the family.

“During the night when her uncle died,” the eyewitness said, “that child was beaten by his family and a man who claimed to be a big man in the Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency (LDEA) at which time they broke one of her legs.”

“After all the torture, they still threw her out of the house, they forgot to even take into consideration the danger it poses to her health, not only the aspect of rape.”  

“I do not know why people find pleasure in accusing innocent children of the act of witchcraft when, in fact, there is no way they can prove their accusations,” the eyewitness said in pity.

The eyewitness said after the death of the survivor’s uncle the family members brought a native doctor who said that girl and her partners were responsible for his death.

“After the native doctor was brought here, the family said that the girl confessed that she and her partners killed her uncle because he means them with food,” the eyewitness said.

The eyewitness expressed deep frustration in said aptitude adding that “I do not know who the man that did such a wicked act to a child in such condition.”

According to the eyewitness, the LNP Children Division was able to take the child to the hospital.

“What we are praying for now is not just the treatment of the child but an investigation being done to bring the perpetrator to justice and even the family because they were the ones who exposed her to such danger.”            

In Liberia, rape has become the order of the day with few out of many girls who have suffered such horrible acts from their male counterparts are lucky to get the needed justice.

With many perpetrators understanding that the justice system is very weak, they go ahead to sexually abused girls and walk in the street with impunity.

Source: Liberia: Adolescent Girl Sodomized After Being Thrown Out for Witchcraft

What the **** is goin’ on in Ogun State, Nigeria? Alarming increase in ritualistic murders!

Killing for ritualistic purposes is rampant in Nigeria. In most states, ‘money ritual’ is a well-known phenomenon. I have already reported many cases on this site. In many states ritual murders are being committed. Reporting on these cases is erratic. Not always there is a follow-up, informing the public of any arrest made, or – in case suspects are arrested – whether they are put on trial, and what the outcome is.

Unfortunately, ritualistic murders or murders for ritualistic purposes are not rare in Ogun State, in Nigeria’s southwest. This year alone I already reported various cases, my most recent postings were on April 27 and March 15

Below I’ve listed four cases which happened during the past few months. Mind you, these are cases which have been reported. How many cases go unreported? To be correct, the fourth case, a seven-year old boy who was murdered for ritualistic proposes by his mum and step-father was already reported on April 27, from a different source. It does not make it less serious. I’m afraid ritualistic killings in Ogun State will continue, as they will in other states. How to end this barbaric practice?
(webmaster FVDK).

Notorious cultist arrested in Ogun State, confesses to killing three

Published: June 3, 2020
By: The Eagle Online, Nigeria

A notorious cultist, Adewale Adeoye, popularly known as 16, has confessed to killing no fewer than three persons since joining the Eiye cult.

Adeoye made the confession on Tuesday when he was paraded alongside 30 others by the Ogun State Police Command for different crimes.

The Commissioner, Ogun State Police Command, Kenneth Ebrimson, who paraded the suspects at the command headquarters in Eleweran, Abeokuta, accused them of involvement in cultism, armed robbery, murder and illegal possession of firearms.

Ebrimson said Adeoye, who has been on the wanted list of the police in connection with cult-related killings in Ijebu-Ode and its environs, added that he was arrested alongside five others at their hideout in Ijebu-Ode.

He said two locally-made single-barrelled pistols, one double-barrelled pistol, 11 live cartridges, assorted charms and Indian hemp were recovered from them.

Adeoye told newsmen that two of his victims were the killers of the leader of the Eiye confraternity in Ijebu-Ode, identifying them as Vandan, Koledowo and Abas.

He said he had been arraigned twice for similar crimes between 2012 and 2017.

He said: “I have been arraigned twice.

“I was first arraigned in 2012 and regained my freedom in 2015 because the complainant did not show up in court and they could not find anything incriminating against me.

“A few days after, the police came for my arrest again and kept me in custody for another two years before I regained my freedom again in 2017.”

Adeoye said he was the fourth in command in the confraternity in 2017 and later became the second in command a year later.

When asked if he renounced his membership of the cult after his arrest, he said: “I have not renounced my membership.

“They didn’t give me the chance because they told me that they would kill me if I renounced my membership.”

Source: Notorious cultist arrested in Ogun, confesses to killing three

AND

Ogun State:
Pastor seeking ‘power’ to grow congregation killed by native doctor for ritual

Published: May 27, 2020
By: The Eagle Online, Nigeria

A Pastor, Kalejaiye Ezekiel, who went to seek traditional power, has been killed by the same native doctor from whom he sought help.

According to available information, the pastor said he needed the power to draw worshippers to his church.

The Ogun State Command has since last month arrested the native doctor, Isiaka Ogunkoya, for the murder of the pastor.

The 48-year-old native doctor has also confessed to killing Ezekiel.

Ogunkoya told policemen mid last month: “The Pastor came to me for power so that his church would  grow.

“I used the opportunity to use him for my personal job.

“I mixed some sleeping solution for the pastor to drink and he slept off moments afterward.

“As he dozed off, I  picked a knife and slaughtered him.

“I am a native doctor and I have helped so many people, including pastors who want their congregation to grow, in the area.

“This particular incident happened because I personally needed human parts for a particular concoction that I wanted to prepare for one of my clients in Isoyin.

“When the Pastor came, saying that he wanted power so that his congregation could grow, I used the opportunity to kill him and used the needed parts for the concoction.

“I gave him some solution to drink and he fell deeply asleep and that afforded me the time to slaughter him and cut out the parts I needed for my concoction.

“I know I have done wrong, but I want forgiveness because if you go around and ask about me, people will tell you that I am a good person.

“This one just happened the way it did.”

The spokesperson of the Ogun State  Police Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the native doctor was arrested by policemen on routine stop and search duty along Isoyin Road.

Oyeyemi, a Deputy superintendent of Police, said Ogunkoya would be profiled to know how many people he may have killed in the same manner.

He said the native doctor would be charged for murder at the end of investigation.

Source: Pastor seeking ‘power’ to grow congregation killed by native doctor for ritual

AND

Ogun State:
Human parts dealers go violent after customers fail to pay N1m for ‘fresh hand’

Published: May 21, 2020
By: The Eagle Online, Nigeria

Alleged human parts dealers in Ogun State last week went violent following the failure of three of their customers to come up with the N1 million agreed for the supply of a “fresh human hand”.

According to available information, after the customers failed to pay for the human hand, the human parts dealers lured them to a bush, where they had them beaten thoroughly for a couple of days before releasing them on May 17, 2019.

According to the spokesman of the Ogun State Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police Abimbola Oyeyemi, the development led to the arrest of four persons involved in the deal.

Oyeyemi, in a statement on Wednesday, said the operation, carried out in conjunction with the Ogun State Security Outfit, So-Safe Corps, also led to the recovery of the fresh human hand.

The Command’s spokesman, who identified the buyers of the fresh human hand as Matthew Idosu, John Feyisetan and Samuel Adegbola, said they were arrested alongside a 40-year-old herbalist, Michael Itomu, by operatives of the Police and So-Safe Corps at Idi-Iroko in Ipokia Local Government Area of the state for being in possession of a fresh human hand.

He said the suspects, through Idosu, had contracted someone in Abeokuta, the state capital, who promised to get the human hand for them for N1 million for money rituals.

Oyeyemi said in the statement: “On delivering the hand, the dealers demanded the agreed N1 million, but the money was not readily available; this led to a serious scuffle between them and they angrily took away the duo of Samuel Adegbola and John Feyisetan into a bush, where they thoroughly beat them before they were released on May 17, 2020.

“It was the action of those, who supplied the hand, that made the whole secret to leak out and which eventually led to their arrest.”

He said following a tip-off, the Idi-Iroko Divisional Police Officer, CSP Sunday Opebiyi, detailed his detectives in collaboration with men of the So-Safe Corps to ambush the suspects, leading to the arrest of three of them in Owode-Yewa, adding: “Their arrest led to the arrest of the herbalist in the early hours of Tuesday, May 19, 2020.”

Oyeyemi said the fresh human hand had been taken to the Idi-Iroko General Hospital for preservation, adding that the Commissioner of Police in the state, Kenneth Ebrimson, had ordered the transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation.

He said: “He also directed that other members of the syndicate, who provided the hand, should be hunted and brought to justice.”

Source: Human parts dealers go violent after customers fail to pay N1m for ‘fresh hand’

AND

Ogun State: Mum, stepdad kill boy for ritual, bury him in upright position with parts missing

Published: April 26, 2020
By: The Eagle Online, Nigeria

Operatives of the Ogun State Command have arrested three persons, including the mum and stepdad, of a seven-year-old boy in the state, Pelumi Apalaya, for allegedly killing him for ritual.

The spokesman of the Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, revealed this in a statement on Saturday.

According to the police, those arrested were the boy’s mum, Adetutu Apalaya; her husband, who is the boy’s stepdad and a herbalist, Lajuwon Ogunleye; and his friend, Fatai Sefiu.

Oyeyemi said in the statement that the boy, who lived with his mum and stepdad until he died in Abigi area of Ogun State, reportedly slumped and died on the spot without being ill.

This was said to have aroused the suspicion of some neighbours who trailed Apalaya, Ogunleye and Sefiu to a bush, where the corpse of the boy was reportedly buried in a mysterious way.

The incident was then reported at Abigi Police Station, with the Divisional Police Officer, SP Tarkighir Joseph, leading a crack team to track down the suspects in Iwopin area of Ijebu Waterside, Ogun State on Wednesday.

The three suspects led the policemen to where Pelumi was buried.

There, it was discovered that the victim was buried in an upright position with some of his parts removed.

Oyeyemi said: “On interrogation, the second suspect, Fatai Sefiu, told the detectives that the boy was actually used for ritual by the stepfather (Ogunleye) in connivance with the deceased boy’s mother.

“He stated further that the couple had reached a conclusion before he was co-opted into the business.”

He stated that Apalaya initially denied knowledge of her husband’s plan to use Pelumi for ritual, but later admitted to the crime, adding: “She was dumbfounded when asked whether or not she followed them to the bush where her son was buried and the mode of burial of the boy.

“Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Kenneth Ebrimson, has ordered the immediate transfer of the case to the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation and prosecution.”

Source: Ogun: Mum, stepdad kill boy for ritual, bury him in upright position with parts missing

Nigeria: Man who ripped out friend’s heart for ritual says regrets not started making money yet

Man who ripped out friend’s heart for ritual says regrets not started making money yet (…) …says native doctor used the heart to prepare beans porridge for them.

Federal High Court – Abuja, Nigeria

Published on: June 12, 2018, 1:16 AM
By Esther Onyegbula, Opadiran Doyin, Okpala Amaka & Ofulue Onyedi

LAGOS—A middle-aged man, identified as Daniel, who connived with two of his colleagues to kill and rip out the heart of one of their friends, Isaiah James, for ritual purpose said his only regret is that they had not started making money from the ritual before their arrest.

According to Daniel, who was arrested in Ajah area of Lagos and is being interrogated at the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, SCIID, Panti, Yaba, alongside three others, “I do regret killing my friend. “I didn’t feel anything while I was removing his heart. Killing a human being is the same thing as an animal. My regret is that we did not succeed in making money before we were arrested.”

‘We were interested in 419’

Recounting the incident that led to them killing their friend and taking his heart, Daniel said: “We are from Chibok in Maiduguri, Borno State. Audu, Ayuba and I conspired and killed our friend, Isaiah James, for ritual purposes. “It was not our initial plan to do so. We wanted to do charms to excel in advance fee fraud, known as 419, but the native doctor we consulted told us that he won’t do charms for us with regards 419. “We asked why and he told us that we are not educated. He told us that we should be literate before we can do 419 successfully. We asked if there was an alternative and he said he would perform a ritual out of sympathy for us. “He told us to provide a human heart. That was the beginning of our problems. When the herbalist told us to bring a human heart, we told him to help us organise it. He promised to do so and charged us N100,000. We paid him N60,000 and promised to balance the N40,000. “However, trouble started few days later when the native doctor called us to say that one of his boys who he sent on the mission for the human heart was shot in the hand by vigilante group members. “He said he won’t be able to provide us with the heart and asked us to provide it ourselves.”

Killing a cousin

On how they got the victim, he said: “At this point we became confused on our next plan of action, until the gang leader, Audu, suggested that he would lure his cousin, who is also my friend, to where they would kill him and pluck out his heart for the ritual. “We called him on phone and told him to meet us at a drinking joint in Ajah, Lagos. He agreed to meet us. He did not suspect foul play and was comfortable with us. We met at night and we started drinking local gin until the wee hours. “We bought him fried yam and at about 1a.m., we said we should go home. As we were walking home, Audu, who was armed with a knife, said he was going to urinate.”

Harvesting

He continued: “The four of us, including our target, went to a corner to urinate. “It was at that point that we all attacked him, pulled him down and hit him with hard objects, while Audu stabbed him. When we noticed that he was dying, Ayuba butchered him and searched inside, but could not find the heart. I collected the knife from him and put my hand inside. “I found the heart. His heart was still beating and pumping blood, when I pulled it out with the help of the knife. “We took it to the native doctor at Ijebu Ode, Ogun State. “He used it to prepare beans for us and promised that after eating the beans porridge, we would start making big money. “He said anything we laid our hands on must prosper and requested for the N40,000 balance, which we paid him. We had just finished the meal when the Police came to pick me. “It was a lady, who saw us the night we killed Isaiah, that told his people she saw us in company of Isaiah. “When the Police came to me, I confessed. Unfortunately, the native doctor escaped before Police could apprehend him.”

Source: Vanguard, June 12, 2018
Man who ripped out friend’s heart for ritual says regrets not started making money yet (…) says native doctor used the heart to prepare beans porridge for them.

Related links:
Court remains four for ‘removing colleague’s heart, The Nation, June 12, 2018
4 in court over ‘killing’ colleague for ritual, Blueprint, June 12, 2018
Four men allegedly kill their brother, remove his heart for ritual, Daily Post, June 11, 2018

Map of Nigeria showing the 36 states