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The fight to halt violence against women is still a huge struggle. Unfortunately, ritual related crime of ‘’get rich fast ’’ syndrome has further exacerbated violence against women in Nigeria -which is a particularly extreme kind of violence against women. In order to prepare ritualistic concoctions that can make the offenders wealthy, protect and advance them, ritualists target the breasts, vulva, ovaries, head, and other physical parts of women and girls. Existing research have studied kidnapping for ritual, its consequences for security and prevalence targeting minors, lunatics, the physically impaired and albinos but little attention had focused on the ‘’get rich fast’’ syndrome of ritual killing as a form of gender-based violence against women in Nigeria. a study by this researcher explained ritual related crime considered a pervasive trend against women by men in Nigeria as an absurd get ‘’rich fast syndrome’’. The study detailed how women fall victims, their relationship with the male perpetrators and the reason for this act against women. The findings reveal that 54 men with just one woman who acted as an accomplice to her husband was involved in the ritual related killing of women. This shows that males are the ones who commit ritual related crimes against women,therefore making it gender based violence against women.
Women are more likely than men to be victims of crimes associated to rituals, reasons for this include women not being physically strong like the men, these women trusted their male partners who use romance, her quest for marriage as a bait to lure and extract her bodily parts. Social –cultural beliefs as well as patriarchy which see women as less than men and next in line after slaves to be used for ritual purposes are also contributing factors to the slaying of women for ritualistic get rich fast money. Also, the result shows that another reason for ritualistic men targeting women is the low status of women where her reproductive parts like her breast, vulva and other parts are deemed portend for get rich fast concoctions to be prepared by herbalist.
Discussions on ritual crimes are generally broad, but women are being targeted for their body parts by desperate men who, with the help of ritual doctors, prepare these severed female parts for quick money rituals. Ritual-related crime against women demands immediate attention.
Accounts of Ritual related crimes against women in Nigeria
A sad reality of ritual crime against women is the blame game and double victimization of the female victims and survivors as they are shamed , trolled instead of their perpetrators getting the wrath of the society .
While Nigerians are still waiting for justice to be served over the alleged ritual killing of Bamise Ayankole who was killed for alleged ritual purposes in the BRT bus in Lagos state, the country has been thrown into another round of alleged ritual crime which involved the disappearance of two friends , Celine Ndudim from Nigeria and Afiba Tandoh from Ghana embarked on April 27. The two ladies travelled from Port Harcourt to Aba, Abia State to meet up with one Andrew Ochekwo (Amechi), they met on facebook . Ochekwo resided in the Ogbor Hill area of Aba.
Sadly , while efforts were being made to locate the ladies, a Human rights activist Harrison Gwamnishu revealed in a face book post that Ochekwo was killed by the police .
“Before I left Delta with the victims’ families to Abuja, I got a call that Andrew Ochekwo, the man who kidnapped the two friends, was killed.“They (police) said while they were taking him (the suspect) to Abuja, the man tried to escape and he was shot dead,” His revelation was further collaborated by staff members of his human rights group, Behind Bars Initiative when he visited the morgue in Otukpo Benue state to physically confirm the Ochekwo’s corpse .
Mr. Gwamnishu further revealed in another post which read :
“Yesterday (Monday), at about 10:00 p.m., we arrived in Aba and the company of police officers from FIB-IRT Abuja, we went out for a search and discovered a decomposed body wrapped and dumped somewhere around ZeeRock Area Ogbor-Hill, Aba, Abia State,; the body was missing several parts, including the head, two hands, and two legs,A curtain used to wrap the body matched one seen in Ochekwo’s residence’’
While the police are yet to find out the whereabouts of Celine and Afiba, the prime suspect Ochekwo whom the police was questioning about their whereabouts was confirmed killed by the police therefore making the investigation into finding the missing ladies difficult. Following the Public interest shown on the matter, the Inspector General of Police IGP Kayode Egbetokun has set up an Investigation Team with a two weeks time frame to get to the bottom of the Celine and Afiba’s case.
Women are lured by ritualistic men during their quest for love, relationship.
Investigations reveal that women quest for love, relationship, romance and marriage have sadly led to them falling victims to ritualistic men . Men use romance as a bait to lure women for ritual killings as newspapers reports revealed how about ten women fell victim to this gang.
Early in February , the police in Ogun state arrested a 32-year-old man Azeez, over the ritual killing of 35-year-old Sulaimon Adijat for money rituals.
The suspects allegedly confessed to the police that he had lured and killed seven women through an online dating site . He said ‘’ , “I got the ladies from MyChat, a hookup app. When contacted by Awuraji, I’d negotiate with the victims on the app, finalise the deal, and provide my address in Atan-Ota.”I would pick them up, and transport them to Awuraji’s house, where we executed the heinous act. “I do not know the ultimate purpose of the group; my role was merely to source victims through ‘hookup’ and collect payment.” “Abidemi’s wife (Awuraji Mariam) will pin their legs down while I strangle them. I joined the gang in September 2023, and we have killed seven ladies. These were the ladies that I brought to the house that we killed.
“I don’t know what they use the corpses of the ladies for. My job is just to scout for the ladies from the ‘hookup’ app and bring them in. They don’t usually tell me the amount they will give; at times, they pay me N30,000; other times, they give me N40,000’’
Police revealed that three suspects confessed to the killing of ten different ladies at the Igbo Olomi residence of Moses Abidemi.”
With reports of ritual related crimes appearing daily in traditional and social media, Nigeria is quickly establishing a reputation as a nation of ritualists. For male undergraduate students, becoming rich quick with Yahoo Plus is taking on a new dimension. The police in the Kwara State Police Command discovered perverted methods used by sophisticated internet fraudsters known as Yahoo plus to snuff off their victims' chances of becoming women. In order to replenish their fortune, these yahoo lads ritualistically hynoptise ladies called slay queens, destroying the victim's prospects of menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth in the process.
Social media use has its benefits and drawbacks, and with the rise of internet fraud known as "Yahoo, Yahoo" and perpetrators known as "Yahoo Boys," there is a sophisticated and ritualistic aspect to this crime that Nigerian media called "Yahoo Plus" and which involves the ritual killing of primarily female and the use of their body parts to help the Yahoo boys hypnotize and defraud their victims, who are primarily foreigners Following the rise in the number of women and girls killed in ritualistic ways, Nigerian social media has created hashtags for women who were killed in similar ways. These hastages include #justiceforBamise, #justiceforUwa, #justiceforUmuoren, and #justiceforSofiat and despite the outcry, ritual killings have continued . The Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta revealed that between January 2018 and December 2021, 150 women and girls were killed for ritual purposes as a result of the burgeoning market for body parts in Nigeria demonstrating a growing need for security and prosperity amid a deteriorating law and order situation
Following the recent arrest of eight people for offenses involving criminal conspiracy, alleged membership in a hidden cult, affiliation with a gang of thieves, and suspected ritualists, the police recently discovered the scam. Among the items found from them was local marijuana with mixture, natural sponges, satirical connations, and smartphones. The accused included Oni Obasanjo, Habeeb Ayomide, Mohammed Abdulkareem, Ibrahim Apete, Ajao Musa, Ismail Ayomide, Adebayo Abdulateef, and Yusuf Najeem. The above-mentioned suspects were detained on April 11, 2023, based on reliable information that several alleged ritualists were spotted congregating at a remote motel in Kwara State's Malete Moro local government area.
The Commissioner of Police sent anti-cultsm officers to the location, where the suspects were picked up and all the items found on them were collected. Although they all admitted to being internet scammers but with the items found on them the police did not believe that they were just into scamming their victims on line but in order to understand why they had the items which looked fetish with them, it was pertinent for the police to conduct a proper investigation. The CP stated in reference to one of the recovered exhibits, "This magical cake stops menstruation and pregnancy in women who eat it. The CP said the "Nature sponge" with a unique soap, stating, "Only God knows what they use to prepare the soap. It may even contain human flesh." Small pins and needles that the suspects admitted to preparing for ritual purpose especially to render women unconscious the minute they came into contact with their skin were also found in one local pot, the CP added.
He cautioned women in Ilorin and elsewhere to be on the lookout for young men flaunting illicit wealth in order to avoid becoming a victim of their schemes. "I want to caution all the girls in Kwara state and Ilorin specifically to be extremely cautious about who they follow because these male university students who are attractive and ostensibly wealthy can be quite harmful .Some of them are allegedly confederates of ritualists, armed robbers, and cultists. They use G-Wagons and other pricey cars while using iPhones costing N1.5 million to N2 million, he continued.
One Amos Olalere has described how his mother reportedly helped him kill his younger sister for ritualistic ways to get money quick. Olalere, who is reportedly 29 years old, allegedly told police officers working for the Lagos state police command that he killed his sister to increase his opportunity to con people on the Yahoo Yahoo plus website. "My mother went me to a herbalist," the young guy stated, "who informed me I will have to sacrifice one life and that person must be my sister if I want to succeed in the Yahoo business. I adore deeply.It took me months to execute the act after hearing from the herbalist. Additionally, my mother pushed me to murder my sister. "The herbalist also instructed that I must sleep with my sister, suck her vagina after she was dead, then threw her into the river for the ritual procedures to be completed." She was the one who purchased a poison, which she put in my sister's food.The suspect was detained while he was on his way to dispose of his sister's body.
In a separate situation, a man named Kingley Emobor, 18, has described how he allegedly murdered his mother and spent two days sleeping with her corpse in their leased flat in the state of Edo. "I wanted to use my mother for ritual," he declared. My age is eighteen. Long ago, my father passed away. One Love, a male, was the one who instructed me toMy father died long ago. It was one man called One Love that told me to use my mother for money ritual. He promised to give me ₦50,000 if I can kill my mother and also sleep with her then take out her private part, He said I should cut my mother’s ear alongside her private part and bring it for ritual purposes. Luck ran out of the young man when his cousin noticed the absence of his mother for almost three days and decided to go into the house and search, upon searching the for her aunty he met her lying dead in one of the rooms in their apartment.
A pastor in Taraba State, Ukechukwu John Christopher was arrested by the police for killing his wife, one Victoria Christopher for money ritual purposes. He is the founder and general overseer of Omega World Global Ministries at Ikot Ataku in Takum LGA of Benue State. It was gathered that after smashing his wife;s head , he secretly buried her remains in a shallow grave inside the church where he resided with his late wife and their children . His children called the attention of the neighbours when they did not see their mother which led to the pastor’s arrest. Such gruesome murder of women is usually carried out for church’s expansion and growth by such ritualistic fake pastors .
A lady identified as Oluwabamise Ayankole 23 was brutally murdered in a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) vehicle in Lagos, and after having body parts removed, she was thrown out of the bus in the state's Ebute Ero district, shocking Nigerians who demanded justice and the prosecution of the murderers. Bamise was killed just over a year after several adolescent boys in Abeoukuta, Ogun state, beheaded Sofiat Kehinde, a 17-year-old girl, for ritualistic reasons. One Oritoke Manni, 26, who worked as a waitress at K.C. Hotel, Apakin Town, Lekki was murdered by his boyfriend Segun Titilayo, 29, of Otolu town in Lekki on November 7 2021.One Uduak Akpan, allegedly killed 20 year old Iniobong Umoren , a job seeker and buried her in a shallow grave in Akwa Ibom state.
In 2019, an alleged notorious ritual killer named Gracious David West admitted to killing at least 15 women for such purposes. A woman in Ogun State conspired with her husband to kill and dismember her visiting friend. Later, in the couples' chamber, the victim's bones were discovered in a bucket. After being captured by the Amotekun Corps in Ondo State, Timothy Odeniyi, allegedly acknowledged that he had previously collected human remains from cemeteries and sold them to his clients.
A reported case was a seven-year-old girl named Demilade, whose body was found at a pastor's residence in Lagos. Sources claim that Demilade was on her way to a nearby store to buy something for her mother when she was abducted and killed as part of a ritual. Moses Oko, 20, a student at the University of Jos Plateau state, killed his girlfriend Jennifer, also a student there, and took some of her body parts.
Favour Daley-Oladele, a final-year student at Lagos State University (LASU), was killed and allegedly had her heart devoured by her boyfriend, Adeeko Owolabi, 23. Segun Phillip, a self-described pastor aged 42, was detained for ordering Owolabi to allegedly ritually kill Favor Daley-Oladele. According to reports, Owolabi took Favour to a white-robed church in Ikoyi-Ile, Osun State, where he allegedly brutally killed the girl while she slept by using a mortar to crush her head before harvesting her organs.
In Iwo, Osun State, a Shakirat was killed and her body was found behind her mother's store with some of her body parts gone. On December 24th, Elohor Oniorosa, 29, a hairdresser was murdered in Edo state allegedly by her boyfriend for ritual.
Despite the already deadly impacts of domestic violence against women , ritual related violence against women has worsen gender based violence against women. This revelation was made when it was stated that ninety-five percent of victims of ritual killings in Nigeria are women and children, this is according to Nnsini Udonta, a program officer for Project Alert, a non-governmental organization in Nigeria that advocates for women's rights. This statistic is related to women’s poor standing in society and is seen as easy targets or ‘things’ with inherent 'enriching' value. Thus, in order to stop this terrible trend, the government must apply a gender lens to address ritual-related crime and use all available tools to ensure that it is completely removed from society. Addressing this crime will also address gender-exacerbated violence against women.
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