The Imo organ harvester

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THE gradual but ominous deterioration of moral values and humanity in Nigeria has continued to manifest in different forms, all of which are criminal and morally reprehensible. Perhaps the most disturbing tendency is the rapid erosion of respect for the sanctity of human life. Life has become meaningless to many people and they do not care a hoot about taking other people’s lives for the flimsiest of reasons, especially economic and pecuniary. And worse still, their relationship with the victims, whether as acquittance, friends or even family, does not seem to matter; what is paramount is their ignoble objective. This is akin to stretching Niccolo Machiavelli’s principle, “the end justifies the means”, to the extreme. Recently, one Emeka Egbuaba, a 29-year-old man, demonstrated this heartless and bestial instinct when he allegedly killed his friend, harvested his vital organs and sold them to ritualists.

The Imo State police command paraded the suspect, an indigene of Ihitte-Owerre community in Orlu council area of Imo State, and he has reportedly confessed to the crime. According to the police, Egbuaba claimed that on May 10, 2023 at about 1630hrs, he lured the victim to an uncompleted building in Orlu Local Government Area of the state, killed him, and thereafter harvested his vital organs, including his lungs, heart, and private part; abandoned his remains at the scene, and escaped to Lagos State with the harvested body parts which he intended to sell for ritual purposes. Apparently, his quest for filthy lucre was so strong that he had to liquidate his friend to achieve his goal. It did not matter that in the process, he had thrown his friend’s family and relations into mourning and anguish and left them to rue their irreplaceable loss. This is the height of selfishness and heartlessness.

A few questions arise. Must a citizen’s gain necessarily be a consequence of another’s loss? Must a citizen terminate another’s life in order to make money and live well? How efficacious is money ritual in letting people gain access to free and unearned wealth, and does it justify the use of human body parts and the unwarranted death of the owners of those parts? For instance, no ritualist is known to have featured on the Forbes rich list. The global citizens who feature regularly on the list are notable for their sheer industry and creativity. So, what is the attraction to this lazy, callous and bestial approach to wealth acquisition through money rituals? And assuming but not conceding that money ritual is a thoroughfare to wealth, how do the beneficiaries live with their consciences in opulence, knowing full well that they had planted permanent sorrow and anguish in another family before achieving the new found wealth?

It is evident that the society is becoming more and more decadent, and that is quite pernicious to its health. This is disturbingly manifest in the rate at which some Nigerians are embarking on hideous and unspeakable acts of evil in search of money as if they are diametrically mindless and bereft of souls. And the whimsical and routine way many resort to brutal killings in their quest for quick and easy wealth is equally frightening. Society has to come to terms with this gradual descent into anomie and the propensity to normalise gruesomely evil acts by deliberately working to reinstitute decency and humanistic dealings as the essence of life and worthy living. It must curb the inordinate worship of wealth. In other words, the society needs to make critical adjustments to rein in the deteriorating moral value system as the current trajectory can only lead to an ignominious end. This can be achieved by putting value orientation and moral rearmament in intense advocacy at every level of leadership in the society— governmental, traditional, religious and more importantly, family.

Again, the prevailing warped societal reward/award system must be tweaked: whether in the official circles, churches, mosques or palaces, the system must play down wealth and prioritise the beneficiaries’ character and contributions to the community as qualifying criteria. When significance is overly placed on wealth status for the purpose of recognition in the society, inordinate and vaulting ambition to get rich by all means, including money rituals, is inadvertently incentivised. The society has to be deliberate about discouraging this perilous tendency. This is one way the society would show its displeasure with the current situation and its readiness to chart a more meaningful course of existence. Furthermore, the society must not just be seen as frowning on evil acts, it must be ready to severely punish it to deter others from embarking on the same path. And to ensure that deterrence serves its purpose effectively in reining in organ harvesting and trade, it is important that the process of naming, shaming and applying sanctions on the dramatis personae around money rituals is holistic. Everyone in the loop of money ritual, including the harvesters/sellers, the buyers and the priests who perform the rituals, should always be apprehended and brought to book. After all, if there are no buyers of human body parts, there will be no incentive for certain felons to kill innocent people with a view to harvesting their vital organs for sale.

On this score, we urge the police to launch a painstaking inquiry into the instant case and fish out other culprits so that they can, if found guilty, be sanctioned alongside Emeka Egbuaba to the full extent of the law.

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