The killing for ritual has become very rampant and worrisome among the youth who are still in their teens.
The
killing of a girl identified as Rofiat by her boyfriend and three others at the Oke Aregba area of Abeokuta in Ogun State a few days ago is an eye-opener for
every parent or guardian.
It
was reported that Soliu, who was the boyfriend of Rofiat had, with the aid of
his friends strangled her, cut off her head and burnt same in a local pot,
purportedly for money ritual.
Luck
ran out on the teenagers when a local community guard, Segun Adewusi, sighted
their activities and reported to the police at Adatan.
These
are teenagers in their 17-year! It is the same set of teenagers if succeeded
will call themselves ‘Yahoo boys’.
The
police arrested 17-year-old Wariz Oladeinde, 19-year-old Abdulgafar,
20-year-old Lukman and Mustakeem, all residents of Abeokuta.
Soliu,
Rofiat’s boyfriend, who initially absconded was later arrested by the police.
According
to the Ogun Police Spokesperson, Abimbola Oyeyemi, the boys have all confessed
to the crime, claiming they planned to use the burnt human head for a money
ritual.
In
the wake of the heinous incident, Nigerians who could not hide their disdain
for the teenagers’ actions took to social media to express their worries.
WHY
BLOOD MONEY IS RAMPANT AMONG YOUTHS
One
of the reasons why blood money is rampant among the youth nowadays is the
influence of social media. What do we mean?
InfoOnlineNews findings revealed that many of these young teenagers learn most of this
act online.
There
are two popular Facebook accounts, named “OGUN OWO TO DAJU with 28 thousand
followers” and “OGUN OWO TO DAJU SAKA, with over 70 thousand followers”.
Let’s
tell you what they do there. The brain behind these accounts calls himself a
Herbalist. And he constantly posts how to make the youth rich by following his
procedures. There are various types of instructions that his younger followers
follow to commit this heinous act. Some of the posts talk about how to become
rich by following this step. And some of these steps includes compelling them
to kill and all sorts. This is where most of them learn these tricks and it’s
becoming more and more worrisome.
The
17-year-old Soliu went on Facebook to search for “how to make money ritual”, in
his own words. Even if Facebook produced no result, he might have very likely
gone to Google to search for the same thing.
Why
would a young lad go on the internet to search for how to get easy money
through diabolical means? The desperation of today’s youth is worrisome and
they believe anything that can quickly make them millionaires, forgetting
everything is a procedure.
While
being paraded, he confessed that, he typed “how to make money ritual” on
Facebook and got the details, adding that the link instructed him to behead and
burn a female skull in a local pot.
NOLLYWOOD
MOVIES INFLUENCE, HOW?
A
few months before Ayodele’s confession, ace Nigerian movie star, Yul Edochie,
popularly known for his roles as an occult member cried out to young people
motivated by his ‘ritualism-themed’ movies that he was just a very good actor
and not an actual ritualist.
The
actor, due to the overwhelming messages received on a daily basis from young
people seeking to make quick money through fetish and harmful means, coupled
with the scourge of ritual killings that has assumed an alarming rate in the
society, was forced to make a declamatory announcement to the general public.
Yul
Edochie, in his statement, noted he is only an actor that acts according to
storylines given to him, and that doing money rituals in the movies did not
mean he does in real life.
Interestingly,
Yul is not the only actor who has publicly disassociated himself from
ritualism and its consequences.
Another
prominent actor who towed that path is veteran actor, Kanayo O Kanayo. Contrary
to the allegation of being a ritualist due to the roles he plays in movies, he
clarified on social media in 2021, that he only interprets roles in movies and
is not an actual ritualist.
Undoubtedly,
Nollywood films with their themes and scenes of ritual murder, magical and
spiritual powers have contributed to the prevailing belief system that wealth
can be made through ritual killings and dubious kidnapping.
PEER
PRESSURE AND THE ECONOMY IS ANOTHER REASON
Youths
are also being forced into bloodsucking rituals for greed and unnecessary
pressures from their peers, and also personal life choices.
Even
though some parents are far from sensible, how can a child you send to school
bring home a car and keep sending you money and you feel okay about it? I’m not
writing to support such parents.
A
big reason is the peer pressure from their friends and associates, which tempts
them into believing that there is something better they can acquire through
these practices. This includes wealth, job promotion, entrance into good
schools/colleges.
Religious
leaders contribute to the trending ritualism more than the parents. Suppose all church
clerics fail to accept youths with no visible source of income but with
luxuries into the church. A pastor worships young rich ones more than the broke
ones for pecuniary reasons. Even if they are not ritualists, there are forms of
inferiority complex that it sends to the young ones who do not receive the
pastor’s good service.
Do
not let us talk about the “Muslim” clerics. They are worse and have contributed
directly to this. They are the ones the young ones patronize for this evil act.
It
all boils down to the government. The Nigerian government gives enough space
for immoralities to blossom. A simple government policy could reduce it. How
about a public execution of whoever is found guilty of using fellow humans for
rituals. This will send a message to existing and upcoming ritualists to cease
or face the same fate when caught.
The
agency that deals with the orientation of young ones is practically dead. The
orientation agency needs to run a public awareness program for the youths about rituals and show
them what might happen if they fail to heed the warning.
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