?Stiffer punishment is needed to deter the murderers

Driven largely by ignorance and poverty, the bizarre practice of killing for rituals is now commonplace in Nigeria. So rampant is the crime that in many large cosmopolitan cities like Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu and Port Harcourt, there is a growing group of desperadoes murdering innocent people, particularly women, children and sometimes the physically challenged, for ritual purposes. These murderers, sometimes called headhunters, go to any extent in search of body parts ? particularly the head and sexual organs, for money-making rituals. Incidents of ritual killings are said to account for a large number of missing people in the country.

Not long ago, there was a shocking discovery of three human heads inside a hotel room in the commercial city of Onitsha, Anambra State. The three heads said to have been kept inside polythene bags were reportedly discovered by officers of the Nigeria Police following a raid on the hotel. Eleven persons suspected to be kidnappers or ritualists were arrested in connection with the human heads. Like numerous other such cases, nothing was ever heard about what happened to the suspects arrested by the police. There was also the case in Kagura, Rafi Local government area of Niger State where police arrested four people in connection with the alleged murder of a 13-year-old son of an Islamic scholar. The suspects reportedly lured the young boy to a secluded area where they removed his intestines and other vital organs after he had been murdered. Also, at a village in volatile Plateau State, an 11-year-old girl sent on an errand by the grandmother was killed and some of her body parts removed.

Due to the prevailing economic situation in the country, many young people have taken to ritual killings for easy money. Indeed, many students of tertiary institutions are now involved in these killings called, ?Yahoo Plus?. Even though the belief lacks common sense, perpetrators indulge in these bestial acts for the purpose of making ?instant wealth? or what some have aptly dubbed ?blood money?. According to research conducted by an NGO, the West African Network for Peace Building, Nigeria recorded 185 ritual-related deaths between January 2021 and January 2022. Among the victims were 43 women, and 30 children in 80 cases across 20 states.

Yet it is difficult to prove that these sacrifices, done at the instruction of some crafty traditional medicine practitioners and witch doctors, can actually catapult people from penury into instant wealth. But that is the superstition driving the orgy of violence to get these assorted body parts. At least, for now, there is no single person that can be named to have become rich because of human sacrifices, except the characters in some Nollywood movies. So, to that extent, ritual killing remains largely a crime driven by ignorance and poverty.

What is, however, clear is that this is a law-and-order failure. The increasing cases of abduction and killing of many innocent people is a poignant reminder that the police and the other security agencies have not sent a forceful message on what awaits the perpetrators of such a most heinous crime. The largely indifferent treatment to those caught has more or less encouraged the commitment of more crime. This is an issue that the relevant authorities have to deal with very quickly. There is also an urgent need for enlightenment campaigns to put a lie to the erroneous belief that money can grow out of the body parts of murdered people. (THISDAY Editorial)

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