Copyright tribuneonlineng
FOR years, we have deplored the horrendous practice of ritual killings and mutilations, but there are no signs that it is abating. Instead, it has grown worse, with incidents of youth involvement spiking in recent times. Recently, the Bauchi State Police Command arrested a 17-year-old boy, Auwal Dahiru, and five others for allegedly plucking out the eyes of his seven-year-old sister, Rukayya Muhammad, in a suspected case of money ritual. The dastardly incident took place in Bayan Dutse village of Ganjuwa Local Government Area of the state. According to the command’s Public Relations Officer, Ahmed Wakil, the incident was reported on October 17 by one Muhammad Adamu of Bayan Dutse at the Soro Divisional Police Headquarters. The story was that at about 8 p.m., Auwal lured his younger sister into a nearby bush, attacked her with intent to kill, and forcefully plucked out her eyes. Following the report, the Divisional Police Officer, Aliyu Goni, led a team of detectives to the scene and arrested the suspect, while the victim was immediately rushed to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, for medical attention. Wakil added: “Unfortunately, a medical doctor (eye specialist) at the hospital confirmed that the young girl will never regain her vision for the rest of her life.” He revealed that the other suspects arrested in connection with the incident voluntarily confessed to the crime during interrogation. The suspects are Mohammed Rabiu, 19, Saleh Ibrahim, 20, Nasiru Muhammad, Hassan Garba, and Garba Dahiru, 43. The statement added that the Commissioner of Police in the state, Sani-Omolori Aliyu, had directed that the case be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department. Time and again, the country has been confronted with the ugly spectacle of ritual killings and allied crimes. Individuals engaged in the criminal, demonic practice have been arrested in various states, including Ogun, Osun, and Ekiti. In states like Rivers, Delta, and Edo, some of the cases were linked to cult groups or secret societies. In one instance, Awesu Mojisola Morufat, a graduate of the Kwara State College of Health Technology, was killed and allegedly used for money ritual, with her lifeless body dumped in a bush in Ilorin, Kwara State. In another, this time around in Ogun State, a teenager was caught with a fresh human head and would go on to confess that it was meant for a ritual to secure wealth. In another instance in the state, a group of boys killed one of their girlfriends, a development that the police linked to ritual practices. In Osun State, a pastor and an herbalist were arrested for conspiring to murder a woman for ritual purposes. As a matter of fact, two men, Elijah Oyebode and Yusuf Ajibade, were sentenced to death by hanging in the state for killing a final-year student, Rofiat Adebisi, for money ritual purposes. That was in April 2020. In 2021, the police arrested a 22-year-old, one Musa Hamza, for allegedly beheading a teenager and removing his eyes for ritual purposes in the Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi State. The suspect reportedly burnt the victim’s body and buried the remains in a shallow grave. In April 2024, police in Ondo State arrested a cleric, Oluwafemi Idris, for being in possession of human organs. In another instance, a self-proclaimed cleric was reportedly caught grinding the exhumed remains of a one-year-old infant whom he had been entrusted to care for by the mother! The latest incident is heartbreaking and soul-crushing. That a teenager who is just starting out in life is already so enamoured by the love of money as to target his younger sister’s life is not only shocking; it is horrific. It shows that the craze for money has assumed disturbing dimensions in the society. This is, of course, hardly surprising because for a long time, home and family values have been eroded as the society descends into the abyss. Really, what does the murderous teenager in this sordid story even want to do with the money realised from murdering his seven-year-old sister and using her eyes for the occult manipulation called money ritual? As it is, the girl is only alive by divine providence: she was meant to die. What wealth, power, or protection can be obtained from wantonly shed human blood? If at 17 this boy is already removing people’s eyes, what will he do later in life if he gets away with this crime? The agony that the girl and her parents are currently going through must be unimaginable. The suspect has ruined his sister’s life, and she will grow up lamenting the ugly incident that altered the course of her life so early in life. The case is made worse by the fact that the Nigerian society lacks the full complement of support that people with reduced mobility have. Just how can a teenager act like a monster, thoroughly bereft of feeling and compassion? What is this society turning into? How are teenagers, whose preoccupation should be the completion of their secondary and higher education, getting lured into the trap of sudden, unexplainable wealth? The law must take its course in this case. But more importantly, the Nigerian society must be reengineered in such a way as to revive the old moral and family values. Failure to do this means anarchy, pure and undiluted.
