Ritual Killings: A Growing Public Health Concern

The criminals should be served full weight of the law

Many Nigerians are now living in fear as cases of ritual killings rise. Last week, security operatives arrested a suspected serial killer who confessed to murdering dozens of people in the Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State. He said a woman helped him lure unsuspecting victims to isolated locations where they were killed for ritual purposes. The Odukpani killings are not isolated. Although reliable statistics are lacking, the trend of missing persons and ritual killings across the country has become pronounced. A civil‑society organisation, “Enough is Enough,” has opened a website to document the trend.

From Lagos to Port Harcourt, Enugu and other cities, stories of people killed for alleged ritual purposes appear almost weekly. In November, a Federal Road Safety Corps officer and her 12‑year‑old daughter were brutally murdered in Osun State by a family friend who lured them to a herbalist’s shrine, where they were slaughtered, dismembered, and had their vital organs removed. In April, the Kwara State Police Command apprehended a man who had exhumed a deceased family member’s skull.

Ritual killing is not a new criminal challenge. In March 2014, a kidnappers’ den was discovered in Soka community, Ibadan, Oyo State. After the den was raided by commercial motorcyclists searching for two missing colleagues, human skulls, dried human parts, and malnourished victims reportedly reserved for ritual purposes were found. In August 2018, Lagos police arrested Taiwo Akinola, a suspected cult member, for allegedly attempting to kill his mother for money rituals.

One of the most notorious cases involved Port Harcourt serial killer Gracious David‑West, who lured seven young women with high‑risk lifestyles across Lagos, Imo and Rivers State to hotels and murdered them for rituals. A young graduate was raped and murdered while searching for a job in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, and was reportedly used for ritual purposes. A 300‑Level undergraduate at Delta State University, Abraka, was murdered by a gang of four “yahoo boys”; one confessed to taking the victim to a bush where they plucked out her eyes, removed her breast and heart.

Questions arise: What motivates these acts? Why do educated citizens commit such barbaric violence? Many attribute the menace to desperation for wealth in a context of poverty and unemployment. People resort to any means, even the bizarre, to acquire wealth. Yet there is no proven link between costly rituals and the instant wealth promised by herbalists and voodoo practitioners.

Today, many university campuses have become breeding grounds for “yahoo boys” and girls seeking instant wealth. The education they receive does not dispel the superstition that wealth comes from human sacrifice rather than productive enterprises, leading to more innocent victims of barbaric killings.