Alarming Increase in Rape and Ritual Killings
By Aisha Popoola Oyetunji
On the 29th of April 2021, the social media space almost caught fire with the news of the death of a young Nigerian graduate, Ini Umoren, who was brutally murdered by one Uduak Akpan who allegedly posed as an employer, lured her out for a false job interview, forcefully had his way with her after which he killed her in cold blood.
Though the suspect has now been found guilty and sentenced to death but that single incident and many others which have now become so rampant in recent years have become a big source of concern for Nigerians. This is because around the same period, a girl was similarly raped and killed in a church somewhere in Benin City, Edo state. This caused massive outrage and protests across the country.
Aside rape, ritual killings have been a source of concern for Nigerians for years. Women and kids have become victims of the greed of some despicable men in their get-rich-quick obsession.
Rape and ritual killings, this sad tale we now wake up to every morning, is not new to our society. In the early 2000’s, many Nigerians won’t forget the terror invoked in their hearts by the notorious human part dealer, Clifford Orji, who posed as a mad man during the day, preying on unsuspecting citizens to unleash evil on them in the dark of the night. It was also rumoured that he kept most of his victims captive for days, raping and starving them repeatedly before finally killing them.
He was well known for eating human parts as if it were cow meat. He also sold human parts to those who needed them for different ritual purposes. Clifford Orji was later apprehended by the Nigerian police but they are still many more like him roaming around freely on our streets, we have them as friends, families, neighbours and aquintances without even knowing it until they have taken undue advantage of us.
Almost two decades after Orji’s reign of terror in the southwest, the inhuman of practise of ritual killing has only gotten worse, bigger and more bold. Every day, new videos crop up on the Internet, showing how young girls get declared missing, repeatedly raped, violated and killed like fowls. In similar gruesome manner, their body parts are harvested and their remains dumped by the roadside for passers-by to see and be reminded of the constant danger lurking around us daily.
Most of the victims of ritual killings are usually women and children, university undergraduates who are too trusting and naive to see the handwriting on the wall or suspect a foul play until it’s far too late for an escape.
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It seems like these ritualists and evil perpetrators are good at befriending their preys and then luring them out, like in the case of Ini Umoren, to places where they are killed. Sometimes these ritualists come in form of good samaritans, offering to give lifts or pay bills, but in reality, their “good” is a premonition of the evil to come.
This evil practice has suddenly sky rocketed in the southeastern and southwestern parts of the country. Everyday there are reports of people getting missing only to turn up dead and mutilated beyond recognition. I have seen videos of victims pleading for mercy, howling in deep pain and agony while their captors mercilessly stab and slaughter them.
They have become so fearless and bold that they never hesitate to show the world the unspeakable things they do to fellow humans to gain wealth, through social media and it’s so unfortunate that very little is being done to apprehend these people despite so much proof and evidence circulating around.
These instances are just a few among thousands of others that we have never heard of, series of cases of missing people whom no one can boast of knowing their whereabouts, throwing poor families into an abyss of sadness.
It has become so hard for any decent person to step out of their house without looking over their shoulders in fear, even pure and good intent are being questioned because apparently no one can be trusted in this hard times when the rush for quick wealth and social gratification has led to the indiscriminate killing of fellow human, our own brothers, sisters and relatives.
My heart and that of every concerned Nigerian is filled with so many questions of why? Why ritual killing? What are the reasons behind it? What gain is their in it? Why do innocent people have to pay the price for the inhumanity of others? But quiet unfortunately we may never get satisfactory answers because no reason is justifiable enough for taking a life you can not create.
In my opnion, greed, peer pressure, social gratification, lack of strict implementable laws and the need to feel accomplished by cutting corners have all contributed to the rise of this great evil that needs to be stopped before we are all wiped off the surface of the earth.
Many young people have resorted to ritual killing activities in order to make money and live the large, exuberant lifestyle they want for themselves. The value system of our society has dropped to such a level that hardwork, honesty and love for ones neigbour which used to be the main principles taught to us from generations to generations are now being disregarded as absolute nothing. Everybody wants to make quick money and the consequences of that is what we are seeing now.
Aisha is a Law Student at the University of Abuja.
