RITUAL RAMPAGE

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At age 17 I had no business with making money, I was in secondary school reading the news every Monday and Friday during assembly and dreaming of becoming a  journalist in the future. While growing up, I had my life planned out in my head;  I’ll go to the university after secondary school, once I’m done with my degree I’ll proceed for my mandatory youth service and after that get a job and start making money.  

You’ll think my little fantasy ended there, no! Once I start earning money from my job, I’ll then buy a car and build a house and then finally settle down with the man of my dreams and live happily ever after. Whether my dream happened or not is  

not the crux of the matter for now, but how a teenager that should be painting the future in the theater of the mind is now thinking of how to make money to buy an exotic car is the crux of the matter.  

At 17, my parents catered for my every need, they didn’t have much but I had the basic things available to aid me to grow and function well at that age. I remember the only time I had to think of making money was during long vacations while I  was in senior secondary school, my parents engaged us with small businesses,  and I was either selling cooked groundnuts or puff-puff at home. Even at that,  they provided the capital for the business. 

Sadly, our morals have dwindled that ritual killing is almost becoming a norm in our society. The quest for quick wealth by young Nigerians is so frightening and alarming, gone are the days when ritual killing for wealth is likened to elderly men,  nowadays, even 17-year-olds are among those carrying the ritual pot. 

Recently, in Abeokuta, Ogun State, a 17-year-old Soliu Majekodunmi lured his teenage girlfriend Rofiat Kehinde and killed her. With the aid of his friends namely, Mustakeem Balogun, Wariz Oladeinde, and Abdulgafar Lukman they severed her head from her neck after strangling her and put it in a black local pot,  and were burning it in an uncompleted building as part of their ritual process before they were apprehended.  

While her body lay wasted on the floor in the room of her lover, he alongside his friends was hopeful in that uncompleted building that they will succeed and be wealthy in no distant time.  

What does a 17-year-old teenager that barely knows his left from his right in the affairs of life and should be under watchful parents needs fast wealth for? How did they muster the idea and even have the courage to execute such a dreadful idea? It is sickening how we got to this point in our society.  

Far on the other end of the country in Kano, little Hanifa Abubakar whose only crime was going to school on that fateful day was kidnapped and killed by her conventional school proprietor. Though she was not a ritual tool, but the main reason behind her kidnapping was to make money.  

30-year-old Abdulmalik Mohammed kidnapped the five-year-old on her way back from school (Islamiyya) and demanded 6,000,000 nairas as ransom from her family. Sadly, the little girl was poisoned and killed with rat poison as though she was one; her body was then mutilated and buried in a shallow grave after she identified him (Abdulmalik). Thankfully, he was caught alongside his accomplices but little Hanifa is gone.  

Just like the teenage boys, Abdulmalik was also in a quest for quick wealth.  

On the other end in the East, in a video that went viral, some young boys believed to be in their early 20s were seen on a major junction in Owerri, Imo State defecating in potties like children and afterward, they used the feces as butter for bread and chewed it in broad day.  

These horrifying stories are never-ending and it is steadily on the increase. Young people have become desperate for wealth that they do the most bizarre things.  Children are no longer safe in the neighborhood, girlfriends are not safe with their

lovers and sadly even parents are not left out. Everyone is a potential victim of this trend. 

The magnification of money among older Nigerians particularly politicians and celebrities has created a huge problem in society. The unnecessary display of wealth by these classes of people on the internet has facilitated the rot we are facing today.  

Places of worship value and respect those with huge donations without questioning the source of wealth, bars and clubs now have an outrageous price list and celebrates the client that spends the most with chariots. Hype men shame average spenders.  

No one is asking questions when people suddenly appear rich; the family which is the smallest unit of society has become dysfunctional. Children are welcomed and celebrated with questionable wealth. Delayed gratification is a non-existent phrase in the 21st century.  

This explains why a lot of people fall victim to all sorts of Ponzi schemes. Internet fraud (Yahoo Yahoo) has become the order of the day, and now the ritual killing  (yahoo plus) they say. 

It is time we all go back to the drawing board to find out how we missed it,  parents need to be more responsible for their children, leaders need to be accountable to the people that voted them into leadership, and most importantly, punitive measures must be put in place by the government to punish perpetrators of these horrible crimes. 

It’s time to question every source of wealth that appears questionable, enough of the irrational celebration of stupendous wealth.  

Author: Kangmwa Gofwen

Lagos Bureau Chief, Nigeria

gofwenjoy@gmail.com

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