The increasing spate of ritual killings

THE speed at which the country seems to be descending into the abyss, especially within the province of security of lives and properties, is alarming. Different variants and indices of insecurity that are of serious dimensions have continued to manifest, with grave consequences for the society. Quite regularly, the media space, both social and traditional, is suffused with gory tales of human lives being desecrated by criminals of different hues. From the heinous activities of Boko Haram terrorists, killer herdsmen and bandits to the flagitious actions of  ritual killers, the spate of lawlessness  evinces a people that is becoming increasingly bereft of respect for the sanctity of human life. And in the same vein, the unchecked reign of terror by violent non-state actors is also indicative of a government that has failed in  its primary duty of  protecting life and property. In particular, ritual killings which are currently on the rise actually exemplify some misguided citizens’ unabashed display of cruelty and selfishness and, of course, a government that is unable to perform the very basic and most important function of governance.

It is saddening that some citizens do not care a hoot about  gruesomely terminating the lives of their fellow human beings,  sometimes even their own relations, so long as such dastardly act holds an unreliable promise of mysterious and sudden improvement in their economic situation. And that is pretty dangerous as it suggests a gradual descent into the Hobessian state of nature where life was brutish and short largely because there  were no enforceable criteria of right and wrong. This  is a retrogressive and  perilous trajectory that must be halted by all legitimate means. From young men cutting their father’s head in Ibadan, Oyo State,  to perverts beheading prostitutes for money rituals in Pategi, Kwara State, the narratives are chilling and bloodcurdling. Cases of ritual killings in the recent past are legion, even as many believe that there are several cases that were not reported to the police or in the media.

The society is certainly in an era characterised by total collapse of family values. Virtues such as industry, integrity,  compassion,  being one’s brother’s keeper and so on  have taken flight, only to be replaced by warped moral values  that celebrate affluence and opulent lifestyles, regardless of the funding sources. Today, and sadly so, ethical, moral and legal boundaries are being recklessly breached by the youth and adults alike in order to achieve the inordinate ambition of amassing wealth through filthy lucre. Even the morally  and legally reprehensible precinct of advance fee fraud, known in local parlance as yahoo yahoo,  where some youths deploy the instrument of deceit  to rob their victims of their hard- earned resources, has been expanded to include what is tagged as yahoo plus which is essentially a euphemism for money rituals. Parents and partners are not spared from the evil agenda of the degenerates to get rich quick and at all costs, including shedding the blood of innocent victims. Yet, no ritualist has ever featured on the Forbes rich list.

We commend the security agencies, namely Amotekun in Oyo State and the Nigerian Police in Kwara State, for their prompt intervention and apprehension of the perpetrators of ritual killings in the two jurisdictions. We urge a painstaking inquiry into the cruel and cowardly act as well as a diligent prosecution and sanctioning of the culprits to serve as a deterrent to would-be ritualists. Impunity and delay in serving justice are  two of the  major reasons criminalities tend to fester,  especially those that border on ritual killings and kidnapping. It is either the offenders get away unscathed, or they are given a slap on the wrist or simply huddled in the correctional centres while trials continue endlessly. And when eventually justice is served, usually without the kind of publicity that attended the commission of the crime, the purpose of deterrence may have been defeated because many, including the would-be criminals, may not hear the court’s verdict or may  have even forgotten about the offence being punished.

A lawless community of people where human beings have virtually lost their dignity and are being slaughtered for money rituals cannot be regarded as a civilised society. There is, therefore, an urgent need to reinvent or restore the society and the surest way to do that is to have basic rules and a government that has both the legitimacy and moral standing to enforce such rules in a dispassionate fashion. As with the other variants of insecurity, it is time the security agencies doubled down their strategy, and worked  in collaboration with ordinary Nigerians to rein in the spate of ritual killings in the land.

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