An epidemic of ritual killings

Daily, we are inundated with stories of youths who should be more concerned about getting an education killing their girlfriends for money rituals.

Recently a 20-year-old man, Moses Oko, was arrested by the police for allegedly killing a 300-level student of the University of Jos, Jennifer Anthony, for suspected ritual purposes.

Also in December, a Benin-based suspected internet fraudster (Yahoo boy), simply identified as Osas, is on the run over the alleged ritual killing of his girlfriend, Elohor Oniorosa. The Edo state police command said the father of the victim, William Oniorosa, reported the murder.

The most depressing story I read was when the police in Ogun state arrested four teenagers for killing the girlfriend of one of them for money-making rituals. It was learned that the suspects were sighted burning something suspected to be human heads in a local pot, and the strange smell from the pot gave them away to the community’s security guards.

One of the suspects, Soliu Manekodunmi, was said to have volunteered his girlfriend and lured her to the location in the Oke-Aregba area of Abeokuta, the state capital, where she was hacked to death and dismembered.

The police public relations officer for Ogun state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who disclosed this to newsmen, said the suspects had confessed that what they were burning in the local pot was the head of Soliu’s girlfriend.

Reading the story you will be forgiven to think you are reading a horror book or movie script. This can’t is real. The most chilling part was when the teenagers said they got the manual of the ritual killing on Facebook.

I heard also there is a money ritual manual group and even how to do Yahoo Yahoo on Facebook. We are definitely in the end times.

How did we get here? When did teenagers lose it? It is safe to surmise that we have a money ritual and Yahoo Yahoo epidemic in the country.

The house of representatives captured it succinctly when it said the government needs to declare a state of emergency on money ritual killings in the country.

The youth no longer want to work, as we say on the streets, “they want to bamba and chill with the big boys”.

Sadly, all you see are armies of youths mostly with dreadlocks, sagging trousers with their laptop looking for “clients”. We even have cases where parents encourage their children to go into Yahoo Yahoo to rescue the family from poverty. In some parts of the country, it is gradually becoming the norm.

Hard work and education no longer pay. It’s now the era of the end justifies the means. Social media influencer, Noble Igwe, shared a tweet recently when he said you will see comedians with just two skits in a year buying mansions. He spoke my mind on this.

We see Nollywood stars with no hit movie all year buying the latest cars and mansions and some youths will be shouting “God when?” When it is obvious that the money they made in movies in 10 years can’t afford the latest cars and mansions. How much do actors earn per role in Nigeria?

We see political appointees and civil servants buying houses all over town. In Abuja, most houses belong to civil servants and you ask how much is their salary?

Those things don’t matter anymore as we have completely lost our value system in the country. Our morals have completely broken down.

The question I have asked severally is, is it possible to make money through money rituals? Maybe Nollywood influenced and glamourized ritual killings making our youths believe that killing someone will make you a billionaire. For now, even if you shout till next year it won’t stop money ritual killings and yahoo boys from plying their trade.

What’s the solution then? I strongly suggest there should be stringent punishment for crimes in this country and the judicial process should be completed in record time. When perpetrators of money ritual killings and Yahoo boys are punished severely, it will serve as a deterrent to upcoming scammers. The death penalty should be the minimum sentence for money ritual killings. This is the way to go.