Teenagers as ritualists

IN the past few weeks, the Nigerian media space has been awash with news of busted persons, including those in their teens, with blood on their hands. The teens were seeking instant wealth. These minors believed that human blood had great potential to produce physical cash, and plenty of it. The shocking story of four teenage boys arrested in Abeokuta, Ogun State, for killing, beheading and burning the head of a girl for the purpose of instant wealth was particularly horrific. It brings to the fore a dangerously growing culture of money ritual in the country.

The four teenagers confessed to asking one of them, Soliu, to lure Sofiat, his girlfriend, to his Oke Aregba residence in Abeokuta on a Saturday. After bouts of sex, Soliu reportedly invited his friends over to complete the assignment, namely to kill and behead Sofiat. In a suspected money ritual fit thereafter, the four assailants proceeded to pack and hide the headless body in a sack while putting the head in a pot to burn.  The arrested suspects are 17-year-old Wariz Oladeinde, 19-year-old Abdulgafar Lukman, Mustakeem Balogun and Soliu himself. Balogun had said: “We wanted to use just her head for money ritual. Soliu (the boyfriend) strangled her and he told me to assist him and we cut off the head.” These are persons of secondary school age, or young people who should be beginners in a higher institution.

In a similar story, there was the reported case of another young man who tried to kill his mother for money ritual. The stage was all set for him to take her life and collect some of her blood in a black pot. The mother struggled to free herself from his grip, and neighbours who later arrested the situation had heard her agonising cry. There was yet the story of a young man who killed his younger brother for money ritual. Confessing after his arrest, he said their mother asked him to sacrifice his brother for money so that they (mother and older son) could be free from poverty.  Two years ago in Ikoyi, Osun State, 23-year-old Owolabi Adeeko had killed Favour Daley-Oladele, his girlfriend, for money ritual purposes. Owolabi, his mum Bola and their prophet, Segun Philips, were later arrested and arraigned. The suspect, a student of the Lagos State University, had confessed that he committed the offence in a desperate bid to help his mother’s declining business fortunes and to redeem the family from the harsh economic times.

Stories of desperate quests for instant wealth in Nigeria never end. Everyone wants to “hammer” or “blow”, as it is infamously said in the country. The mission is not far-fetched: work easy or do not work at all, but make fast and big money and live large! Worse still, celebrity entertainers do not make things easy: they glorify quick wealth, applaud ostentatious living and praise-sing the “big boys” whose source of wealth is either unknown or dubious.  It is a stinking culture. Underage persons now proudly go about in posh cars, patronising expensive bars, clubs and lounges to show off their riches. They buy expensive drinks and wear exotic stuff. However, a dig into their backgrounds will show that they do not have any tangible career, job or business. All they are into is either internet fraud (Yahoo Yahoo) or money ritual (Yahoo Plus). Boys in their late teens or early 20s dare the odds and patronise fetish priests who assure them that the fastest lane, money ritual, is the easiest and only way out.

There have been other similar horrific tales or news of ritual practices for money. Muyideen Salaam, an apprentice in Aketegbo community in Seme, Badagry area of Lagos State, confessed to killing a 13-year-old boy, Rilwan Amuda, to make money and escape poverty. Muyideen claimed he was tempted to do this after his wife left him together with their children because he had no money. The story of a handsome young man walking naked somewhere in eastern Nigeria went viral few years ago. He looked like a mad man, but those who understood the situation explained that he was not mentally sick, but was on a ritual exercise for money purposes. According to the community members, it was common for young persons to carry out this ritual in obedience to the fetish priests who assured their clients that this was the route to unlimited supplies of money.  Again, we have heard of teenagers and other young men eating their own faeces in order to become mysteriously and stupendously rich. In this connection, there was a viral video on social media showing two young men at a busy bus stop in Owerri, Imo State. They sat on potties like babies and defecated. One of them then wiped his anus with a slice of bread and chewed it. Disgusting? Yes, but that is another ritual practice that young people believe is a difficult but sure means to instant wealth.

With the acts gaining ground, it is apparent that the Nigerian society is in perilous times. People have become money-mongers, thus making the entire society polluted and extremely ill. The glorification of money, from the older generation of people and leaders to the impressionable young people, including teenagers, has created a damaged societal fabric. There is a growing creepy culture in which unexplained or unexplainable opulence and money-worship is etched at the very base of the society. The family institution, a unit where moral foundations are built, has become dysfunctional. This explains the scenario in which a mother requests one of her sons to kill her other son. Also, the popular culture celebrated in the public space by famous entertainers tends to glorify such vices as drug abuse, rape, prostitution, internet fraud and money ritual. Anyone who survives a dangerous money ritual exercise and ends up being rich is often described in popular music as odogwu (strong person). This will no doubt fire up the youth and their teeming fans who will crave easily made money.

We condemn these practices in the strongest terms and in totality, and recommend severe punitive measures against anyone found guilty of any of those vices. It is shameful and scary that teenagers who barely know their left from their right are already finding killing fellow human beings a delight in order to be rich. The question is, what does a 17-year-old, who should be under watchful parents, need fast and big wealth for? Let us remind everyone that killing other people does not make money available. Hard work and positive engagements are the sure ways to wealth. Acts of grand corruption, stealing of public funds and display of opulence with impunity at the top echelon of society also tend to normalise the quick-wealth culture from which young people take their influence. We call for accountability in public life to discourage this creeping culture of greed and ostentatious living which has damaged our society.