Ritualists hunt for hunchbacks in Delta

Ritualists are currently hunting after persons living with kyphosis otherwise known as hunchback for money ritual in Delta, it was gathered on Wednesday.

No fewer than two hunches have been harvested from individuals living with the medical condition at popular Kokori and environs in the state.

The report is causing panic in the community and other parts of the state as persons with the medical condition are said to be going underground for fear of being grabbed by ritualists.

One of such victims, identified as Mr. Odiriverere and popularly known as Atinipa, was found lifeless on Tuesday morning with his hunch ripped off by his assailants.

The attack on Atinipa is said to be one of several others as the remains of another victim, simply identified as Queen, also suffered the same fate.

Queen was said to have died and was buried at Erhomeghu community in Kokori.

But her body was said to have been exhumed and her hunch harvested by the suspected ritualists.

A source and neighbour of Atinipa, at Uwedi Street, residence of the victim at Kokori said the incident has thrown the community into a state of shock.

“We found his mutilated body on Tuesday morning with his hunch ripped open in an open hole,” the source disclosed.

When contacted, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Delta Police Command, Celestina Kalu, said the first incident was reported at the Police Station in Kokori on November 8 by one Chief James Egbire that his nephew, Odiriverere Egbire was found dead in a bathroom at about 7:00a.m.

According to Kalu, on examination, the 36-year-old Egbire’s hunchback was discovered to have been removed by the ritualists.

Kalu added that the remains of the victim had been deposited in a mortuary while intense investigation has commenced on earnest with a vow to unmask the perpetrators.