Ritual Killings in Yoruba States

Posted by Felix Okoli on Friday April 18, 2014 at 12:28:40:

In recent times, the menace of ritual killings has resurfaced itself again in Nigeria. This year alone, there has been an alarming number of ritualist’s den uncovered with the help of the Police force and the public. From the number of ritual murders uncovered, it seems that the killings are more common in the south western part of Nigerian especially in Yoruba states Oyo and Ogun.

Today, it was reported in the new that a suspected ritualist was arrested in Ogun state after having raped a mother and beheaded her 2 year old son. The severed head of the child is yet to be found as it's suspected to have been sold to another ritualist. Also, just this month, about a ritualist den had been uncovered in Ibadan - Soka forest.

During this same year, a man pretending to be a mad man was also apprehended by alert members of the public after some human parts and weapons were discovered on him.

It was probably because of his suspicious movement that residents decided to find out what the man was carry, they discovered that the nylon bag contained decayed human intestine stained with blood.

The Police had discovered a large forest in Ibadan where lots of human skulls representing dead people might have been used for ritual sacrifices. They did this through the help of members of the public and they also freed some other kidnapped persons there who were also mean to be used for rituals.

These ritual killers are suspected to be working for other leading public figures among which are politicians who believe that they require to make blood sacrifices in order to backup themselves. This is probably the reason why this ugly practice has remained for so long even though it is a crime in Nigeria's constitution.

Even both Christianity and Islam which most Nigerian's have adopted as their religion clearly forbids ritual killings but it is still a problem in the society. There has been many cases of missing people and it is suspected that some of them might have been used for rituals.

This theory might not be far fetched seeing that the 2015 national elections is around the corner. Others link the ritual killing to People who are eager to make money fast, and in so doing they go to the extent of killing their fellow human beings and using them for sacrifices.

Inasmuch as some of their dens have been uncovered, there are ones that are yet to be discovered and they are lying in wait for unsuspecting victims. Everybody should be at alert, report anybody behaving strangely around you and be security conscious at all times.

In Nigeria, most ritual practices that involve human life when discovered would normally show the victims body to have been dismembered or with missing body parts such as a missing head, missing breasts, missing genitals or even missing eye balls.

People who engage in ritual practice normally do so in secret and they tend to lure non suspecting members of the public by either drugging or kidnapping them and taking them to evil forests or remote locations where the ritual killing normally takes place.

Ritual killings and sacrifices are not so common in Nigeria as they used to be in the past before the introduction of Western education, civilization and foreign religion but it is still a dark history that has remained in most parts of Nigeria and it seems it's more particularly active in the 21st century among Yoruba states in the South West.