By Folorunso Fatai Adisa
The menace of ritual murder —like cultism— has attained its zenith among the youth. The ostentatious display of wealth and the reckless quest for its acquisition is now at a life-threatening stage. This disheartening development has wormed its way into the midst of the youngest rung of the people in our society and we seem to be unbothered by this monster of a development.
On 28 November 2021, I wrote a post on Facebook about how a senior police officer of Adatan Police Station, Abeokuta was injured by warring factions of cultists in a secondary school. Sadly, there is a more scary development this morning.
Earlier today, Saturday 29, January 2022, the community security at Oke Aregba of Abeokuta South LG alerted the Police that four boys were found burning something that’s suspected to be a human head, on the road, inside a local pot. By the time the police got there, three of the suspects, Wariz Oladeinde (17yrs), Abdulgafar Lukman (19yrs) and Mustakeem Balogun (20yrs) were arrested. The last person, Soliu, is on the run. These boys confessed that they were burning the head of ROFIAT who was a girlfriend to Soliu (their friend who is on the run).
ROFIAT was lured to Soliu’s place where she was decapitated and had each part of her body severed and packed in a sack while her head was burnt for a spiritual purpose. This is as frightening as saddening it’s.
Similarly, it was reported that the Osun State Police Command arrested Ayodeji Saheed and Tunde Obadimeji who had just murdered a lady, in a hotel, for ritual purposes. In their confessional statement, they claimed to have killed close to 70 ladies as they lure their victims with money and other ostentatious things.
We have lost our moral compass. Whether we like it or not, poor parenting— as the family is the first agent of socialisation— has greatly contributed to this disturbing development. The unnecessary glorification and worshipping of wealth have led us to our current chaotic situation.
Incontrovertibly, It all boils down to lawlessness. Nigeria is so weak in checkmating the source of wealth of the citizens. Whereas securing lives and property is needed for meaningful development. Wherever lives and property are in danger, development dwindles.
A wound is festering and we are hiding it beneath the clothes… when its putrid smell hijacks the atmosphere, everyone— present— will BENEFIT from the discomfort it will create. Our society has lost its soul and the insane rush for material wealth has made ritualists out of many! Most of these teenagers are feeding their parents and doing things their parents could not do in 35 years of service to the nation. As long as the activities of these bad eggs continue, we haven’t seen anything yet—the societal and continuous silence on ill-gotten wealth.
Sadly, ill-gotten wealth has found acceptance among us we celebrate it. We encourage it, and our musicians sing the praises of these crooks to the high heavens. We have become their cheerleaders.
Overall, it is time the government started taking a harsh stride against any parent whose child(ren) is found guilty of these offences. If you take care of your corner and I take care of my corner, everywhere becomes neat.
*Folorunso, Fatai Adisa writes in from Abeokuta. Folorunsofatai03@gmail.com
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